A Ghostly Field Trip
by A Writer's Right to Write
Summary: When a field trip is planned to the Ghost Zone, Team Phantom has no choice but to go along with it. With ghost enemies becoming stronger and a dangerous plot in the works, will the team survive or die trying? No PP. DxS TxV
1. Arc I: An Announcement

**A/N: So, I've seen a huge amount of field trips to the Ghost Zone, but to be honest every single one has felt rushed...They always feel like they are more or less just trying to write a fan service story with a torture Danny mixed in rather than actual story.**

**Mine isn't like that...Mine will of course have certain common plots but for the most part it will have a main plot to get through (I already figured out how this is going to go).**

**This story might also have a prequel once I finish this if people like enough so make sure to review if you like it.**

**DISCLAIMER: I GOTTA TELL YA, MY NAME ISN'T BUTCH NOR HAS IT EVER BEEN...**

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><p><strong>An Announcement<strong>

Danny Fenton wasn't what you'd call a normal teenager by any chance of the imagination. When he had been fourteen, his parents had invented a machine called the Ghost Portal that could enter a parallel world to their own known simply as the Ghost Zone. The machine had seemingly not worked and his parents left it alone in defeat. However, days later Danny had shown his best friends, Tucker Foley and Sam Manson, the portal at Sam's insistence. She later managed to convince Danny to go into it wearing a white HAZMAT suit, and when he walked into it he tripped over his feet and accidentally pushed a button.

That single moment changed Danny's life forever as the portal turned on with him in it. His body had been filled with the ghostly energy, ectoplasm, and merged to his DNA. When he exited the portal moments later his body had temporarily turned ghostly as he had become half-ghost. Since that incident Danny used his new found ghost powers to stop the invading ghosts from causing havoc across the world as the superhero known as Danny Phantom.

Four years had passed since the accident and much had changed. Ghosts, once thought of as fiction, had been proven to the world to be real, and Danny Phantom had become a household name. While some groups still considered Danny Phantom to be an enemy just like other ghosts many have accepted and come to love their hero. The sight of Danny Phantom had become a symbol of hope and peace among the people of Amity Park and even people across the world.

Not much had changed for Danny Fenton unfortunately. As Danny Fenton was his secret identity he had to act much different than Danny Phantom did and make himself seem far less impressive. A seventeen year old Danny was so different from his fourteen year old version of him that most people wouldn't believe they were the same person. While Danny had always been a klutz and shy he had a spark of rebellion and wit that few ever saw. He had come to realize he could not bring attention to himself like he used to because if public opinion ever changed about Danny Phantom it would not take long for people to figure out that Danny Fenton was the same person. No, he had to change himself enough that even if a ghostly enemy publically revealed him no one would ever believe it.

That was the reason Danny Fenton had strangely become a model student. Getting top grades and no longer causing fights had been a well received change by many. Tripping and falling had become so common place for him that he actually caused accidents accidentally rather than purposely. His ice blue eyes that once could make even the fiercest of people flinch away now seemed dull and shy like a single moment could make him cry. His messy black hair had remained the same but now it looked more like it was to hide away rather than just a natural style. He wore a baggy red shirt over a baggy black shirt and large dark blue jeans to hide his increased physical physique from the ghost fighting. Finally, he slouched as if to make his six foot height seem smaller compared to others.

In the end, Danny Fenton had become well known for being the wimp of the school, and too pathetic for anyone to even pay attention to anymore. That is, everyone except his usual bullies, Dash Baxter and Kwan Ming. The two football players had taken advantage of the wimpy Danny Fenton by throwing him in lockers, beating him up for money or by just being plain mean to him. There had been many a time that Danny wished to fight back like he used to or even _better _than before, but he had learned long ago to let such petty thoughts go. He had more important things in his life than a couple of school yard bullies and letting things getting the best of him would get him nowhere.

On a Friday at the end of September, Danny Fenton was quickly taking notes on _Romeo and Juliet _as his English teacher, Mr. Lancer, explained the romantic tragedy to his students. Mr. Lancer was a bald man with a black beard who wore a blue dress shirt with a red tie over his fat stomach and wore brown dress pants. The man had taught Danny since he was a freshman and seemed to have made Danny his pet project. Ever since his miraculous increase in grades however, Mr. Lancer left him alone for the most part as he seemed to consider his job done. The truth was that Danny used to be a barely passing student, but he had learned the ability to duplicate his body several years ago, and a duplicate could transfer all information he stored to the real Danny. The Danny taking notes was in fact already a duplicate since his true form was forced to fight the Ghost Zone's supposed greatest hunter, Skulker.

Danny's eyes drifted a little as he began to grow bored and he noticed that most of the class had lost attention as well. Next to him, Sam seemed to be doodling in her notebook, but he noticed that it seemed to look like she was trying to form words with it. If he had to guess, Danny would say that Sam was trying to remember another magic spell.

Danny couldn't help but marvel at his girlfriend of two years. She really had grown even more beautiful over the years despite his personal doubt that it shouldn't have been possible. Her lavender eyes remained as beautiful and strong as the day he met her his senior year of middle school. Her hair remained the long bob cut hairstyle she had always had for him to admire but she had long since stopped wearing a small ponytail with it. His eyes drifted down to admire her form fitting black sweater, her baggy black pants and black boots. Even now he felt his breath hitch with how much she captivated him and when she looked up he couldn't help but blush being caught. She blushed to but rather than look away she smiled and squeezed his hand for a second before turning back to her notebook.

Danny shook his head thinking about how much work she put into her spells. When Sam had gained her magical powers three years ago, it had been difficult to accept her as a full partner rather than a sidekick. She was powerful, there was no doubt about it, but she had been so limited. Her debut as Spell Caster had been with mixed results as well. It was obvious that she had not been a ghost and that had caused a giant investigation by the government. It had been a hard few weeks for them as they had to deal with that as long as establishing themselves as equals rather than her sitting in the background.

Luckily, not many people would guess that Sam and Spell Caster was the same person. Spell Caster was, to put it simply, much kinder than Sam ever was. Sam had gained a reputation at Casper High School for her ferocious behavior and no nonsense attitude. People looked at Sam and would easily worry that she'd have no problem leaving them behind out of sheer spite. Spell Caster however defended constantly and even talked to people that Sam did not like, like Paulina Sanchez and Star Tarazat, as equals. Many would be surprised if her identity ever became public knowledge. Danny wasn't all that surprised though since he realized that Sam as Spell Caster basically treated everyone the same way she'd treat a little bunny she found running from a hunter: like someone that _needs _her more than anything.

Danny looked at Mr. Lancer ensuring he hadn't missed anything before turning to see look at Tucker. Tucker wasn't even pretending to pay attention as he talked to his girlfriend, Valerie Gray, in low whispers. He watched as she occasionally nodded and jotted something down that look suspiciously like blue prints. Danny was always marveled by how much Tucker had changed over the years. The only things that seemed to remain were his green eyes and dark skin. The red beret he wore for many years had finally been put to rest to be replaced by a red headband, and it gave him the chance to let his hair grow into long dreadlocks. He still wore glasses, but he wore thinner frames instead of his old thicker geeky pair. He had grown to a full height of six foot three and, unlike Danny he did not slouch, allowing people to realize how tall he really was. He wore a dark yellow turtleneck sweater with an unzipped light brown sleeveless flak jacket as well as green camouflages pants with his brown hiking boots.

Danny tried to look at the blue prints, but Tucker caught his eye and grinned. He mouthed "no peeking" and hid it away. Danny was always impressed with how well Tucker could design things and he had become quite well known around school for it. Of course he was useless without Valerie who seemed to be able to build anything he designed. Tucker had purposely let people know about his skills as his way as hiding his identity as the robotic hero, Nano-Tech, a secret. At most someone would think that Tucker and Valerie built him rather than Tucker actually turning into a robotic form. He had built up his own cowardly nature that whenever Tucker disappeared most just thought he ran away from something again. Nano-Tech on the other hand was no for his cool logic and stoicism in the face of danger along with robotic voice. He had convinced so many people that he was a robot that even the government believes that he's a rogue model of some undocumented anti-ghost agency and have tried to catch him on several occasions.

Valerie looked up with a curious expression and Tucker pointed to Danny. She turned to him and grinned before going back to taking notes on Mr. Lancer's lesson. To Danny, Valerie was a completely different person in looks and attitude than she had been four years ago. She had a chin length bob hairstyle and wore a black sweater covered by a short sleeved zipped up red jacket. She wore black pants and black boots. She also wore her orange hair band now as a neckerchief instead. Honestly, the only that didn't change was her dark green eyes and dark skin.

Her attitude was completely different from than to. While confident and still a bit of a shopaholic, she lost most of her petty attitude ages ago when she found herself friends with the loser crowd like Danny, Sam and Tucker. There's also the fact that her ghost hunting as the Red Huntress had led to her discovering a passion in building and fixing machines which in the end gave her something to talk about with Tucker. When she changed from the Red Huntress to Foresight no one was quite sure what to make of it. As the Red Huntress people have come to know her as an "end by any means" girl and a complete hatred for all ghosts no matter the circumstances. When she became Foresight after Danny finally revealed his identity to her along with Sam, her temper had cooled a great deal and ironically led to her befriending more ghosts than anyone else of their group. She was able to understand their obsessions and work with them on it forming a bond and decreasing the amount of ghosts that wanted to kill them. Somehow Foresight had become known for being the most peaceful member of the group despite her past. Valerie on the other hand had slowly disappeared into her work with electronics partnering up with Tucker on almost all occasions even before they started to date the previous year. Most that saw her thought of her as a scientist or technician rather than the shallow girl who would have someone beaten up over a shirt.

Danny smiled softly as he thought about his great friends and everything they've gone through together. Even the rest of the school noticed how close they were and bet that among they would stay together after high school. He shook his head refocusing on Mr. Lancer and tried to not let his mind wander any further or he'll miss something crucial.

"And, that is all you'll need to know about _Romeo and Juliet_," Mr. Lancer said finishing his lecture clapping the chalk off his hands. "You will be tested on this on Tuesday, so you _better _had paid attention. Anyone with a D or below _will _lose five points off their final grade." Mr. Lancer noticed Paulina's hand and sighed. "And, no Miss Sanchez, you are _not _exempt from this."

Danny saw Paulina put her hand down with a pout obviously having spent the entire class working on her make-up rather than listening to Mr. Lancer. Danny could admit in his head that Paulina had grown even more beautiful over the years. Her wavy black hair had grown very long touching all the way down to her butt and her aquamarine eyes could hypnotize anyone with just a stare. Her light pink crop top really showed off her bust to the point that even Danny had trouble looking away. Her unbuttoned long sleeved light blue jacket didn't really cover her enough to keep anyone from looking away. Her dark blue skort accented her hips in a way that could even catch his attention if he didn't prepare for it. Truthfully, the most modest part about her was her plain white shoes.

Danny knew that Paulina wasn't afraid to use it either. She had recently gotten a full scholarship at college in New Your City and Danny highly doubted that she got in with her grades. Of course, he doubted that Paulina had sex with anyone since she was well known with Star for being "all tease and no play." Paulina had tried many times to lord it over Sam, but Sam simply laughed that she didn't need to sell her body to get what she wanted. It was unfortunate, but Paulina had barely matured when it came to caring about anyone but herself which left many guys only caring about her body since her personality was far too obnoxious.

Paulina seemed upset that her top of the social ladder status in the school wasn't enough to gain her an A in the class. In the past four years it had only taken her being cheer captain for Paulina to get an automatic A from Mr. Lancer. However, all this year Mr. Lancer had been completely fair much to Danny's amusement as he _knew _Lancer wouldn't be if he had a choice. Over the summer, Danny and his friends had gone to several of Mr. Lancer's students and got them to sign a complaint against the teacher for his blatant favoritism. Danny had invisibly watched as the school board and Principal Ishiyama tore into Mr. Lancer for all of the complaints, and told him if they saw even the smallest signs of favoritism he would meet a very early retirement. It had been extremely satisfying to see Mr. Lancer taken down a peg or two. The only reason he wasn't fired on the spot was that Mr. Lancer at least gave an impartial leeway to all his students for ghost attacks interfering with their studying, but as attacks became less frequent he was told they would be watching him.

Mr. Lancer sighed. "In other news, it seems our class has been chosen for the first ever field trip to the Ghost Zone." Mr. Lancer shook his head. "The trip will take tomorrow and yes you will still have that test on Tuesday." The students groaned as he rolled his eyes. "I also expect a two page paper next Friday of what you learned in there. Once again, Miss Sanchez, _no exceptions_."

Danny's face turned pale and he turned to his friends to see that they were the same as the rest of the class broke out into worried and excited whispers. Danny couldn't believe that the school could be so foolish to send untrained teenagers into the Ghost Zone. Despite Valerie helping relations as well as his allies there were still a great deal of ghosts that would be happy to see them die. Even worse most of their enemies were higher class ghosts.

Tucker gaped at their teacher. "Did you really say that we were going to the Ghost Zone for a _field trip_?" Tucker asked incredulously. "Thesame Ghost Zone that the _millions_ of psychotic ghosts that attack our town on a daily basis _live_?"

"Yes, Mr. Foley. _That _Ghost Zone," Mr. Lancer said scowling at the young man who was staring at him like he was nuts.

"Are you _insane_?" Valerie asked in disbelief. "Why would you send a bunch of untrained teenagers to a place where nine times out of ten they'll end up attacked?"

"Seriously, Mr. Lancer, I knew you didn't like us, but isn't trying to off us a tad extreme?" Sam asked completely serious.

"I don't know where you got the ridiculous idea that I don't like my students, Miss Manson, but let me assure you I in fact care deeply for _all _of my students." Mr. Lancer ignored her disbelieving snort. "Also, this was not the school's idea, it was Mayor Masters'."

"It was _Mayor Masters' _idea?" Danny asked wide eyed.

Mr. Lancer nodded his head. "Yes. Mayor Masters believes that if he sent a class of high school seniors into the Ghost Zone then there's a chance for human and ghost relations to improve." Mr. Lancer sighed. "It's a long, I know, but the logic is that teenagers such as yourselves aren't quite as sent in stone in your beliefs as the adults are. He figured all of you would be more willing to listen and speak kindly than shoot first and ask questions later."

Dash looked nonchalant. "How are we getting there though?" He asked unconcerned.

Danny discretely rolled his eyes figuring that Dash probably believed he could out muscle any ghost that came their way. He had unfortunately not changed much over the years remaining as arrogant and obnoxious as he had been in his freshmen year. He had the same slicked back short blonde hair, the same blue eyes, the same black t-shirt, the same red and white letterman jacket, the same light blue jeans and the same white cleats. Really the only thing that changed about him was his height reaching six foot five and the soul patch beard he grew.

"The Fentons have graciously agreed to let us use their portal as well as accompany us as chaperones," Mr. Lancer explained and Danny groaned quietly. "Attendance is mandatory unless you are found under the weather." He stared hard at his students. "Anyone found skipping will have to write a ten _page _paper about why honesty is the best policy, so be prepared to leave at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

Danny shuffled out of the class with Sam, Valerie and Tucker feeling a sense of great anxiety bubble in his stomach. "I always knew Vlad was insane, but this is going to far!" Sam groaned. "What's he trying to pull?"

"Knowing Vlad? _Nothing good_," Tucker said holding Valerie's hand.

Danny was suddenly grabbed by the scruff of his neck and pulled into a headlock. "I should've known you'd geeks would be too wimpy to want to go!" Dash laughed.

"P-Please let me go, Dash," Danny pleaded feeling disgusted with himself and Dash rolled his eyes.

"If you get any wimpier, Fenton, you might as well come to school in a dress."

Paulina giggled. "I know, right? He used to have this attitude and now he's even more girly than _I _am!" She paused and turned to Sam. "That's why you're dating him! You're a closet lesbian and he's the guy closest to be a girl! I get it now!"

Sam's face turned dark red. "I'M NOT A LESBIAN YOU IDIOT!" She roared and everyone in the hall stared at her. "I…I mean I'm not a lesbian, you idiot. And, the reason I'm _in love _with Danny is none of your business, so buzz off!" She said back in a quieter more threatening tone.

Paulina held up her hands. "Whatever you want to tell yourself, Manson," she said clearly not believing her. "I hope we get to me Danny Phantom," she said brightly changing the subject. "I might just win his heart this time!"

"Isn't he, like, dating Spell Caster though? That's what all the blogs are saying," Star Tarazat pointed out carefully.

Danny looked at Star and secretly admired the way she had grown over the years. Her long blonde hair and blue eyes hadn't changed much, but now she wore a tight white sweater with a yellow star on the front as well as hip accenting orange pants with white shoes. He could see why people considered her the second most beautiful girl in the entire school.

Paulina shrugged. "Spell's always been nice enough to us; I'm sure she won't mind if I snagged her boyfriend." Danny barely stopped himself from sniggering when he saw Sam's eye twitch at that. "If worse comes to worse I'm sure she won't mind sharing…"

Sam's eye twitched again. "I _knew _I shouldn't have been so nice to them," she muttered to low for anyone to hear.

"I always thought Spell Caster was with Nano-Tech anyway?" Kwan Ming asked confused. Kwan hadn't changed much over the years like Dash. He still basically wore an exact replica of Dash's clothes. The only difference for him over the years was that his hair was now short and spiky and he had grown into an impressive six foot _eight_.

"Nuh uh, Nano-Tech and Foresight are like so a thing!" Star disagreed. "Or was he with Mind Bridge?"

"No, I don't think Mind Bridge is with anyone..." Paulina said thoughtfully. "Not that I blame them...I mean really what super heroine wears a _sweater vest_? If that isn't a fashion disaster I don't know what _is_!"

"Oh I like so agree! She could look really cool if she'd just lose that hideous thing!"

Danny gave up pretending to struggle from Dash's grip. "Could you please let go of me, Dash?" He asked crocodile tears in eyes and Dash smirked at him. A second later he let Danny go and pushed him through a door. Danny looked up from where he fell on the ground and stared in horror as he saw a bunch of girls glaring him. He only had a second to realize that Dash threw him into the girl's bathroom before the girls screamed at him and literally kicked him out.

Danny staggered standing up blushing bright red and he ran down the hall embarrassed. He could hear Dash, Paulina, Star and Kwan laughing extremely hard and his friends running behind him. As soon as he was far enough from the popular group he stopped and scowled at the wall. He hated acting like this, he thought, but it was necessary to separate himself from Danny Phantom as much as possible. It was times like this he wished he used a different superhero name and wore a better disguise. As it was the Guys in White had nearly figured him out several times and were causing problems with his family with it.

Sam put a hand on his forearm jolting him from his thoughts. "You okay, Danny?" Sam asked concerned.

"Except for my dignity? Yeah, I'm fine," Danny said harsher than he meant to.

"Don't be snippy with me!" Sam retorted.

Danny blushed. "Sorry, I just hate having to act like that…"

Sam smiled at him and quickly pecked him across the lips.

"But, you know, it's really freaky when they talk about us like we're comic book characters or something," Valerie said shivering and they agreed with her as they were about to turn the corner. "Stop!"

Danny, Sam and Tucker froze mid-stride wondering what she saw when suddenly a nerdy night grader came rushing down the hall with a three freshmen football players chasing after him with a garbage can.

"Why you runnin', Evans? We only want to give you a shower!" The football player in the lead joked.

"Yeah, a shower of garbage!" The one behind him shouted in agreement.

"And, by shower, we mean make you really dirty instead of clean since its garbage! Right, Flash?" The final football player chortled causing the other two to smack their foreheads.

Flash glared at the third. "Bash, the joke's not funny if you've got to explain it!" He told him angrily. "You trying to say I'm not funny? That I need my jokes explained?" He poked him in the chest. "_Well_?"

Bash backed up slightly. "Of…Of course not," he stuttered. "Back me up here, Lance," he said only to not see Lance anywhere.

"Oi! You two can finish your lovers spat later! _He's getting away_!" Lance yelled down the hall having continued to chase the nerd and the other two instantly stopped fighting as they smirked at each other before chasing Evans once again.

"Poor Evans...I wish someone could help him," Tucker said sending Sam a significant look and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Heads up, Evans!" Flash shouted with a laugh as he threw the garbage at the poor cornered boy.

"_Reverso,_" Sam whispered with a wave of her hand the garbage suddenly flew back into the can, but Flash had put it behind him and his friends resulting in _them _getting showered by the garbage first.

"AAAHHH! The garbage can is haunted!" Bash screamed in fear as he and his friends dashed out of the school while the older students rolled their eyes.

"You'd think he'd be able to tell when something's haunted or not," a snobby girl pointed out. "It was obviously something else."

Her friend nodded. "You're right, Bridgette. If it had been a ghost it probably would have shouted, 'I am the Garbage Ghost! BEWARE!'"

"Actually, I think only the Box Ghost does that, Michelle," Michelle's boyfriend pointed out.

Bridgette pushed up her glasses. "That's a good point, Dave, but if it had been haunted than it probably would have attacked more," Bridgette said defensively and everyone agreed.

Danny, Sam, Tucker and Valerie watched the students from around the corner a bit mystified. "Geez! When did people learn the Box Ghost's name?" Valerie whispered. "And, get so used to ghost attacks they could spot the difference?"

Tucker rolled his eyes. "Well, gee, Val, it couldn't be because the school had been attacked practically every day for four _years_, could it?"

Valerie crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Still it's really weird to think a few years ago everyone would have evacuated the school by now in mass terror," Sam pointed out. "Now something freaky happens and everyone treats it as normal as going to your next class!"

Danny smiled. "Thank god for that!" Danny shook his head and sighed. "It was really annoying when some people —" He stared at Valerie pointedly. "—thought I was evil and a terrorist! At least most people don't shoot at me anymore."

"Totally dude!" Tucker agreed. "I absolutely hated it when there was that mass outcry that I was going to hack a nuclear base and kill us all! I mean _really_?"

Valerie laughed. "To be fair, Technus did that and you hacked into his systems to get him out, and then you were stupid enough to say it _nationally _that you did it _easily_!" She grinned. "And, of course, you said it so monotone and plainly that you made people think that you did that _normally_."

Tucker looked indignant. "If I told you once, I've told you a million times, _it slipped out_!" He threw his arms in the air. "Sheesh!"

Sam huffed. "At least yours is somewhat justified. There's _still _news about religious nuts coming to Amity Park to burn me at the stake!" She moaned annoyed. "Gah! I don't want to talk about this anymore! Cane me move on? _Please_?"

Danny, Tucker and Valerie barely heard her because they had broken out into snickers remembering the last time she was "caught"… Those religious nuts were probably scarred for life!

"Oh, come on!" Sam stomped her foot. "Listen to me!" The trio continued to snicker. "Don't make me set you on fire!" She roared and the three stopped instantly. "Good, now we _are _moving on! Am. I. _Understood_?"

"Yes, ma'am," the three said mirth still clear in their voices and she growled at them.

Tucker obviously saw the clear signs that they'll be lit a fire soon because he quickly did something that would prevent Sam from being angry at him: picking up the garbage. Danny and Valerie quickly caught on and joined him in garbage duty. Sam smiled at them and began to help them.

Tucker picked up a banana peel. "Hey, Danny, remember when Dash used to dump trash on us?"

"Remember? I had to throw out half of my clothes because of it," Danny said grimacing. His mother had been absolutely furious when she heard about that and it was her furious storm of the school that caused Dash and Kwan to actually stop. "We really could have used that spell back then, you know, Sam," Danny pointed out casually acting like his normal self now that the rest of the students were gone.

"Well sorry that my powers weren't _forcibly _awakened back in middle school," Sam retorted sarcastically. "And, come on, the garbage stuff isn't _nearly _as bad as the stuff they do now. Dash hits you where it hurts now: your pride."

"So true…" Danny sighed. "I can't believe I miss the days where beating me up was his way of bullying me. Now it's all about humiliating me and he's _good _at it!" Danny grumbled annoyed, but forgot all about it when he felt something tap his shoulder even though nothing was there; he obviously knew what it was. "Hold on guys, I'll or rather _he'll _be back in a second."

Seventeen year old Danny Phantom was waiting for his clone to head into the janitor's closet. He had messy white hair and glowing green eyes. His outfit had changed over the years to give him (in his humble opinion) a cooler look. He wore a sleeveless black tank top with his white 'DP' symbol in the center of it, and black pants. He now had a sleeveless white long coat that was tied under his white belt to give the lower half a cape-like affect. On the back of the coat was a black 'DP' symbol. Finally he had long white gloves and white boots. He looked a little scuffed up from his fight with the ghost Skulker, but he hadn't been hurt too badly.

The clone walked in closing the door behind him and the two clasped hands. The clone melted into ectoplasm and surged into his chest. Danny's eyes glowed brighter for a second before returning to normal, and he frowned as he received information about the field trip. He transformed back into his human form and stepped out of the closest, but he was so lost in thoughts that he nearly walked right by his friends.

Sam elbowed him in the ribs and Danny reflexively got caught between cringing and a fighting stance which resulted in him falling face first on the floor. "Hello…Earth to Danny Fenton! Do you read?" Sam asked in a mock Houston control center voice.

Danny looked up grinning. "I…I don't know." Danny's grin turned mischievous as he stood up. "I think I might have gone to heaven because there's an angel in front of me."

Sam moaned. "That was so _cheesy_," she complained but smiled sweetly and blushed anyway.

"You know you love it."

"'Course I do, but if you tell anyone I'll kick your butt."

Danny was about to retort when Valerie intervened. "So, how was the fight against Skulker?" She asked quickly and Danny pouted at her.

"Got lucky. His suit had a virus thanks to him ticking off Technus last night." Danny rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck wincing in pain at the small bump that formed there as the four walked out of the school. "Once he gets his new suit fixed I don't think I'll be able to fight him alone anymore or at least not without breaking a couple of seals anyway."

"You know you can't use them! Remember what happened the last time you broke them? We nearly lost you! Remember what Clockwork told you would happen if you left even _one _of them undone for too long?" Sam protested.

Danny nodded. "I know." He grinned at them. "It's a good thing I have back up now, isn't it? I don't have to worry about fighting him alone now."

"So, Skulker's definitely a B-Class ghost then?" Tucker asked holding out his PDA that showed Skulker's picture with his biography.

_Name: Skulker the Greatest Ghost Hunter in the Ghost Zone_

_Human Name: Sherman Kent_

_Class: High C or low B depending on upgrades_

_Biography: Not much is known about how Skulker came to be other than dying in a hunting accident, but as a ghost the man has proven to be formidable with his hunting and tracking skills. His true body is nothing more than a miniature form of ectoplasm but he uses an extremely effective robot body._

"He's definitely there now," Danny agreed rubbing the bump on the back of his neck where Skulker shot him.

Tucker nodded his head and typed a few things into his PDA. The profile updated and a warning was put under his picture that no one should fight him unless they had backup. It made Danny feel a bit nauseous that he was unable to fight most of his ghostly enemies by himself now as a great deal of them had become B-Class or even A-Class ghosts. He thanked the heavens that Valerie was able to make friends with a great deal of them and he made peace with several of them otherwise things would probably be even worse. He was also thankful that not many ghosts became S-Class super ghosts or SS-Class ghosts like his evil future self, Dark Dan, and the former ghost king, Pariah Dark.

It wasn't hard to realize that the ghosts were constantly trying to get stronger to combat him and his friends (or Team Phantom). It reminded him of Dark Dan's future where Skulker and Technus teamed up to become Skulk-Tech 9.9 so they could fight against him. Luckily, their constant need to improve themselves had slowed down ghost attacks since they knew they wouldn't get anywhere as is.

He shook his head and asked Tucker and Valerie if they're ghost hunting equipment was in working order. The two looked indignant at the question but told that they were. Danny was thankful for this because he was going to try his best to not transform while in the Ghost Zone. It's not that he was just afraid to reveal himself, but he worried what Vlad might be up to. Transforming could end up helping him more than it could help them. Sure, they'd have to transform to fight stronger ghosts, but knowing Vlad he would limit them to keep him on edge.

Danny, Sam, Tucker and Jazz had all learned to fight as regular humans without relying on Danny's ghost powers in the middle of his sophomore year. Vlad had used an improved version of his weapon, Plasmius Maximus, to short out Danny's powers for a whole week, and par the course, Vlad sent an entire army of ghosts to constantly attack them all week. It had been extremely aggravating to them, but helped them realize that they depended on Danny's ghost powers far too much. They had no problem defeating the weaker E and D-Class ghosts without and if they worked together they could handle C-Class ones as well. From then on the four of them decided they would handle weaker ghosts without Danny Phantom and that surprisingly is what caused the ghosts to begin doing their jumps in power.

The other good thing to come out of it was that Valerie learned Danny's secret. It had been at the end of the week and he was fighting Skulker when he felt his power return. He had been so ecstatic that he unthinkingly transformed and Valerie had spotted him as she was coming to 'save' him from Skulker since she didn't know he could fight ghosts. Skulker, not being nearly as he was strong now, was quickly defeated and he was forced to confront Valerie. She had been incredibly hurt that he hadn't trusted her to tell his secret, but he pointed out that she never listened to what Danny Phanton had to say so he had no reason to think she would listen to Danny Fenton.

It surprisingly didn't take much to convince her that he wasn't the villain that she made him out to be. He just had to explain the instances like when he was under Freakshow's mind control and how the mayor was overshadowed. It helped that she knew about his clone Danielle being half ghost as well as Vlad. She reminded him that she had attacked him far less since she met Danielle and explained that she was already thinking that he wasn't an evil ghost. In the end, the two of them came to a truce and she agreed to join Team Phantom.

After that Valerie and Tucker had teamed up to create customized weapons for each member of the team to use as humans.

The group stopped in front of Danny's house. It was a red brick building with a strange UFO-like metal device on top of it and a sign that said 'Fenton Works.' Danny sighed and sat on the stairs tiredly and Sam sat next to him leaning her head on his shoulder and taking his hand. Tucker and Valerie each leaned against the concrete railing as they thought about the sure to be disastrous trip to the Ghost Zone.

"I can't believe your parents agreed to this trip," Valerie said suddenly. "They've never even _been _to the Ghost Zone."

Danny face palmed. "They never had a real excuse to go since the government had forbid them from actually going. My parents were supposed to be _scientists_, remember? They were supposed to leave the ghost hunting to the Guys in White," Danny pointed out. "They obviously didn't stick to that, but the good ol' U.S. of A. didn't really care as long as they didn't cause a massive ghost invasion. They just had to explain that the couple they had weren't their fault and they were in the clear." Danny shrugged. "The government doesn't really care much if they go anymore after four years, so they are probably taking this trip as a real opportunity. Plus if Vlad suggested it then I'm sure Dad was immediately on board. He _still _hasn't caught on to one kind of person he is even if my mom has."

Tucker adjusted his glasses and stretched. "Point," he admitted shrugging. "Guess Val and I should go and check on the equipment just in case," he said grabbing Valerie's hand and winking at them with a promise that they'll do more than that if he gets his way. "See ya later!"

"Bye, Sam! Bye, Danny!" Valerie yelled back as Tucker pulled her away quickly, but when she told him to slow down he just smirked and picked her up bridal style. Danny watched as Valerie squealed in surprise and Tucker laughed happily.

"Good ol' Tuck." Danny grinned as Sam wiped away a few stray tears from laughing so hard. "Come on, let's go in."

"We're going to do our homework as soon as I put my stuff away," Sam said as she headed up to her room. "This trip will probably kill the whole weekend and I don't want to deal with all of it at the last minute. I'm definitely going to do Lancer's today."

"All right…" Danny sighed in defeat and he headed into the living room while she went to her room. It had been a whole year since Sam moved in with the Fentons. She had been fighting with her parents a lot since her grandmother died at the beginning of their sophomore year, and it finally peaked last year when they tried to make her go to a private boarding school. Danny knew that wasn't the part that bothered her though, but it was that they were doing this to try and take her away from him.

The fight had resulted in her leaving the house once and for all, and her parents disowned her. Sam had found out that her parents had removed her from school, and she hadn't wanted to tell him what happened so she played sick at the time. For a whole week, Sam had told him that she was sick and couldn't be at school and not to visit at her house as she was highly contagious since it would be bad if Danny Phantom got sick. He had grudgingly respected her wishes, but he was getting worried.

Then by pure chance he had come across her living in a cardboard box in alley during one of his ghost fights. It had taken a couple of days, but he had eventually managed to wheedle the entire story out of her. He had been horrified to learn that the Mansons tried to break them up and the little bit of respect he had for them disappeared. He refused to let Sam live out on the streets and after a quick family discussion his parents agreed to become her guardians. Getting the Mansons to agree had been hard because they were refusing out of spite, but they eventually gave up.

Danny sighed as he remembered those first few days. It had been very awkward as they were essentially living together even if they slept in separate rooms and had parental supervision. A lot of good came out of it though like her being able to help him study a lot longer and it was easier to train when they could get together in the middle of the night. The trips to the Ghost Zone were a lot easier too with her there to help run interference more often as she was a lot better than him _and _Jazz at making up excuses.

Danny sighed as he thought about the Ghost one wondering what kind of hell he would have to endure this weekend.


	2. Arc I: Stranded

**A/N: Okay, so I've getting a lot people talking about the group and their powers...One try to remember that this story takes place about three of four years after the show would have finished and ignores Phantom Planet.**

**One thing I will tell you is that Danny is the only one with a ghost form or even ghost powers. The rest of the group's powers are completely different and I will be explaining them and their origins as the story goes along.**

**The reason I haven't explained Sam's is simply because I think how she got hers is probably the most interesting, so I'm keeping it under wraps for a bit.**

**So, don't worry about them...I will tell you though that Danny is still the strongest member of the group and that none of the powers will Mary Sue a character (I can't even _write _a Mary Sue!)**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN DANNY PHANTOM**

* * *

><p><strong>Stranded<strong>

"Jazz what are you doing here?" Danny asked at seven in the morning the next day when his sister walked through the front door while he and Sam made ate their cereal (his parents were in the lab working on something). "I thought you were going to a big psychology convention or something?"

"I was planning to until mom and dad decided to make your little field trip a 'family outing'." Jazz Fenton scowled. "I can't believe Vlad's making you guys go in there; we could die!"

"I get the feeling Vlad doesn't really care," Sam piped up with a stretch. "You know how much worse he's been since Maddie finally told him off last year."

The three smiled a little at the memory before they shuddered at Vlad's reaction.

_"I don't know how many times I have to tell you Vladimir Masters, but _I am not interested_!" Maddie screeched at the white haired billionaire finally having enough of his flirting as well as the insults against her husband._

_"Now, now Maddie dear there's no re—"_

_"Don't you Maddie dear me!" Maddie yelled at him causing Danny, Sam and Jazz (who were listening from the top of the stairs) to snicker. "I know you had that silly little crush on me in college...Hell everyone knew! I thought we talked this out before we built the proto-portal!"_

_"Oh, I know you were just playing hard to get, my dear," Vlad said smoothly._

_"'Hard to—' Vlad! I don't know where you got that ridiculous idea from—"_

_"Let's just say a little birdie explained it to me—"_

_"Well that birdie's _wrong_! I've never been interested in you!" Maddie told him firmly, but Vlad looked as if he thought she was lying. "I don't understand what happened to you Vlad...Back when we were in college you were a really good friend to both me and Jack! You even openly admitted that Jack was your best friend! What happened to the man that got into a fight with ten football players just for bad mouthing him? Where did he go?"_

_"He's gone, my dear...I realized quite some time ago that the Jack I thought was my friend was nothing more than a big, fat oaf and traitor. He ruined my life with the portal and he stole you away from _me_! Me! His BEST FRIEND!"_

_"The portal was an accident! Once your ecto-acne was gone you were perfectly fine!" Maddie said exasperated, but Team Phantom and Vlad knew that he wasn't perfectly fine any longer...They knew he had changed. "And, how many times do I have to tell you that Jack didn't steal me away from you because I was not interested?"_

_"You really believe that don't you?" Vlad asked in disbelief. "You really believe you love Jack Fenton, don't you?"_

_"I don't think, I _know_," Maddie told him with absolute conviction and Vlad shook his head in pity._

_"I don't know how the big oaf managed to brainwash you away from me, but—"_

_"Brainwash?" Maddie spluttered. "Jack would never do such a thing! Unlike you Vlad, Jack is a good man."_

_"I'm ten times the man Jack Fenton could ever be!"_

_"Yes, ten times worse and then some!"_

_"Then why do you actually love me?"_

_"I don't believe this," Maddie muttered looking at her old friend stunned. "Vlad let me make my point clear...I would not date you if you were the absolute last man in the entire universe. If you were my only choice I would say, 'screw humanity' and let our race go extinct. I would rather date a _ghost_ than date you!"_

_"Is...Is that how you really feel Madeline?" Vlad asked softly as his eyes filled with hurt and rage._

_"Yes," Maddie asked without hesitating and Vlad looked absolutely annoyed as he stomped off to the front door._

_"I see...Jack has done such a number on your mind; you'll never be the Maddie I fell in love with again—"_

_"I was _never _the Maddie you loved."_

_"—the only choice I have is to put an end to it once and for all."_

_"What exactly do you mean by that, Vlad?" Maddie asked fearful of the ominous tone in the billionaire's voice._

_"Do not worry my dear, your pain will be over soon," Vlad told her with a sad smile as he closed the door behind him._

Team Phantom had been on high alert since that one sentence and it was a good thing to because one week later Vlad Masters did one of the stupidest things possible: he released Pariah Dark. If that had not been enough Vlad had presented him with two of the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage just to ensure his own safety as well as allow the ghost king enough power to kill _everyone_.

Yes, that had been Vlad's plan...Complete and total genocide of everyone and everything on Earth and in the Ghost Zone. Danny didn't understand at first why Vlad would do something so drastic, but Clockwork simply told him there was more to it than that. Danny still couldn't understand what he meant, but since then that time he had learned to be a lot more cautious around the billionaire. One false move could mean the end of everything which is why he was extremely afraid of what might happen on this trip.

To make matters worse, the fight against Pariah Dark had not gone very well..._Not at all_. The ghost king was out for revenge against him and was willing to destroy everything in his path to succeed. Unlike the first invasion Pariah was not in search of the ring or crown resulting him in having no reason to show mercy.

It was during this fight that all five of his most powerful abilities had been awakened at once...Their power had put him above even the ghost king. The price was steep however as he nearly destroyed himself with them which is why he found all five powers sealed. The risk was not worth the pain or other after affects they could have.

If that had not been enough, during the fight Danny had learned horribly enough that the ghost king's sarcophagus had been completely destroyed resulting in them having to use Tucker's capture discs (which replaced the Fenton Thermos), but even though the discs are far more powerful than the thermos they could not hold a monster like Pariah forever like his Sarcophagus of Sleep could. In the end, they gave him to Clockwork to watch over with Dan Phantom (who was also now in a disc).

"Are you ladies just going to stand there or will you invite us in?" Someone said from behind Jazz and Danny groaned as he realized it was the A-list.

"The trip doesn't even start until nine o'clock, Dash! Why are you here already?" Danny groaned.

"Because they are the only ones that will be going along with your friends," Mr. Lancer said disapprovingly. "It seems everyone else has suddenly come down with a severe case of chicken pox or at least that appears to be the story your classmates are going for."

'_Chicken pox my foot!_' Danny thought jealously. '_More like a case of I-don't-want-to-die syndrome...Now we'll have less chance of sneaking away if something bad happens!_'

"Dude, I didn't even know seven o'clock existed on Saturdays!" Tucker grumbled tiredly as he was dragged in by his equally tired girlfriend. Normally Danny would have laughed at that but he got the distinct impression that neither one of them would appreciate his humor right now.

"Good morning everyone!" Maddie said brightly. "Seeing as how everyone whose coming is already here, why don't we get started!"

"Ooh! Ooh! I can't wait to see all the ghosts in there!" Jack blathered on. "I've never got to go through the portal! I can't wait! But, first to the lab!"

"That was such a good speech Jack!" Maddie praised much to Danny and Jazz's embarrassment. "Have some fudge."

"Mmm...Fudge..." Jack moaned hungrily as Jazz rolled her eyes at them.

"Mom, I think we should serve breakfast first, don't you? Plus Danny and Sam still need to get dressed," Jazz pointed out and the two teens blushed bright red. Danny had still been in his blue striped pajamas while Sam was in a long black night gown (she actually wore less to bed but Maddie and Jack didn't need to know that).

"Oh, good idea!" Maddie agreed. "I can cook breakf—"

"No!" Danny, Sam, Jazz, Valerie and Tucker screamed a little too loudly before all of them faked a cough.

"You kids should do something about that cough," Jack told them seriously. "Unless...That cough was actually a bunch tried to enter your system through your throats and you're fighting them off! Come on kids you can do it!"

"Dad—"

"I know, I'll get the Ghost Gabber and see what those putrid bits of ectoplasm is trying to say—"

"DAD!" Danny interrupted him and the big man stopped to look at his son carefully. "We're fine now, okay?"

"Of course you are..." Jack shook his head as his wife as he slowly pulled out his bazooka and nearly shot Tucker who dodged at the last second with a yelp.

"Dad!" Danny and Jazz cried out in surprise.

"Nearly got him, Jack!" Maddie said pulling her hood over her head. "Don't worry kids we'll get those ecto-parasites out and free you from their mind controlling clutches!"

"Not you to mom!" Danny groaned.

"We're not possessed, Mrs. Fenton," Sam said a bit annoyed at her (as Maddie would call herself) "mother-in-law". "It was just a bit of coughing...its November you know? All cold and stuff and we walked home..."

"Oh, so you were just clearing your throats..."

"Exactly."

"No ghost?" Jack asked disappointed.

"Not until we go through the portal," Sam assured him and cringed when she saw the man's eyes brighten up.

"Ooh that's right! The portal! We should go now..." Jack trailed off when practically everyone's stomachs growled. "Or, we should wait until after breakfast..."

"I'll go make it now," Maddie assured him but Valerie cut across her (hey she was not in the mood for her breakfast to attack her!).

"Why don't I cook breakfast, Mrs. Fenton? When I'm home it helps me wake up and I really enjoy it..." Valerie practically pleaded on her hands and knees.

"Are you su—?"

"YES!" Valerie said a bit too loudly. "I...I mean of course, Mrs. Fenton."

"Okay then."

"You got our stuff, right Tuck?" Danny whispered to his best friend an hour later as the group headed down to the lab and Tucker gave him a thumb's up. "Good."

"Now for this trip we have made modifications to our Specter Speeder," Maddie explained enthusiastically. "I present the Fenton Bus!"

Danny looked on horrified at a regular sized school bus Specter Speeder...His horror came from the giant picture of his dad's face on the side. Sam, Tucker and Valerie's snickers wasn't helping matters either. "You guys checked to make sure it'll be okay, right?" Danny asked nervously.

"Of course I did Danny boy!" The A-list laughed at Danny's nickname from Jack. "There were no problems at all...Except well Vladdie might have a bit of hole in his bathroom now...This thing's got power!"

Despite himself, Danny couldn't help but smirk at the thought of Vlad waking up to go to the bathroom only to find a giant hole in the wall.

"Climb aboard kids...and Mr. Lancer!" Maddie commanded cheerfully and the popular kids did enthusiastically while Team Phantom reluctantly followed.

"Mrs. Fenton, do you think we'll, like, see Danny Phantom?" Paulina asked as she fixed her make-up just in case.

"I don't know...Jack and I have never been in the Ghost Zone before," Maddie explained causing Danny's classmates and teacher to freeze mid step with a look of fear on their face.

"The Great Gatsby!" Mr. Lancer exclaimed. "Do you mean to tell me that we're going in blind? That you don't even know if we're properly prepared in case ghosts _do _attack us?"

"Of course! That's what makes it fun!" Jack explained cheerfully and before anyone could protest, Jack pushed them into the bus.

"Hey!" The A-list protested not liking an uncool guy like Jack Fenton _touching _them!

"I would sit down if I were you," Danny advised sagely and the popular kids noticed Team Phantom and Maddie were completely buckled up holding onto the seats for dear life. Paulina, remembering an instance from a couple of years ago, suddenly found herself automatically strapping herself down as much as possible.

"Paulina wha—"

"Strap yourself down stupid!" The Latino girl whispered furiously to her boyfriend; the panicked look was enough to get her friends to follow suit as well as her teacher. It was just in time too because the second Mr. Lancer buckled up Jack completely floored it.

The A-list screamed in terror...It was like being in a rollercoaster! Jack even just did a loop!

Jazz was definitely regretting eating breakfast now...They should have just gone down like her mother wanted them to, but she was trying to delay as much as possible. She should have known that her dad was going to drive; truly she really should have since he _always _drove! She just hoped that their mother would know better than to let their dad drive in an already dangerous place.

She hated being wrong!

"Jack, slow down!" Maddie cried out. "We're missing all of the sights!"

"Huh? Oh, you're right, Mads," Jack agreed as he finally slowed down much to everyone's relief. "Sorry about that, kids."

All he got in return were mumbles of "I'm going to be sick" and "thank goodness" from them.

Danny was completely on edge an hour later...Something wasn't right here. They hadn't come across a single ghost yet and usually his team can't go no more than three minutes (last previous record) without at least being attacked _once_! Even Kempler hadn't shown up yet and he shows more than anyone else in the Ghost Zone since the Box Ghost usually escapes to Earth by now...although nowadays he rarely left his own lair since he lost scaring enthusiasm once he got married and had a kid.

"Something's not right," Danny whispered.

"I know...Where are all the ghosts?" Tucker whispered back.

"You don't think they went back to Earth, do you? I mean if we're all here maybe their taking advantage of it..." Jazz hypothesized.

"Vlad _did _come up with this trip, so it is possible he told them that we'll all be here," Valerie added on and Danny swore under his breath.

"Why didn't I think about that? We've got to—"

"EVERYONE HOLD ONTO SOMETHING!" Valerie cried as a vision of a crash appeared in her mind's eye and Team Phantom instantly grabbed onto the back of their seats.

Team Phantom knew better than to question anything Valerie said when she used that tone...That was the tone of her premonition powers kicking into see five seconds into the future. Her powers are surprisingly a result of a wish that Desiree did correctly because it was to take down Danny...

_"Will you stop moving?" A fifteen year old Valerie screamed as fifteen year old Danny Phantom dodged her shot. This was about one week after she had met Danielle Phantom...She was frustrated because the ghost boy said to someone that she couldn't see that maybe she was going soft since she let him go. No, she was going to prove that she was not going soft._

_Plus he was an easy target to let her misplaced aggressions out on after discovering that Vlad Masters was Vlad Plasmius as well and he used her!_

_"Why would I stop moving? So, you can shoot me?" Danny asked and she was so frustrated that she missed another shot. "Oh? Do I even have to move? That's pretty bad aiming, Val!"_

_"ARGH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Valerie screamed hearing what she wanted to hear (Danny actually asked if she was okay because it wasn't like her to miss like that...), and shot again only for Danny to dodge again. "GOD DAMN IT! I WISH I KNEW WHERE TO SHOOT BEFORE HE COULD DODGE!"_

_"So, you have wished it so shall it be..." Desiree whispered from her vantage point...She had been the ghost Danny had been hunting the girl interfered. She figured she owed the girl one and it _would _be a great chance for someone to get the ghost boy out of the way._

_Or, that's what her _conscious _thoughts thought anyway..._

_Valerie gasped as suddenly she was enveloped in a green mist. "VALERIE!" Danny cried out worriedly as he flew to his ex-girlfriend worried she was being attacked. _

_Before he reached her however the mist seemed to just evaporate around her and Valerie stood there confused. "Well that was weird..." Valerie muttered to herself until she saw the ghost boy flying at her (poised to strike in her mind. "Oh no you don't spook!" _

_Valerie shot at where he was when in her mind she saw the ghost boy just up above that spot and shot there. "ARGH!" Danny grunted in pain as he flew right into the second shot since Valerie believed he already dodged._

_The grunt of pain actually shocked her...It was then that she realized she shot where he was _going _rather than where he _was_. She grinned a Cheshire grin as she tested this new found power out. Once again she shot where he was and then in her mind saw him fly to the left and shot there. Sure enough, he dodged left and flew straight into the second shot._

_"How are you doing that?" The ghost boy groaned in pain._

_"I don't know, but..." Valerie picked up her bazooka smiling victoriously. "...I get the feeling this will work for me."_

It was only thanks to a surprise shot from Sam that Danny had managed to get out of that predicament as well as he did. Of course, now Desiree hates herself for casting the wish since Valerie joined the team thus no longer hunting Danny.

The A-list were completely confused why she would scream that since nothing bad had happened so far, and so they attributed it to being a prank from the loser squad to freak them out and they were not going to be fooled!

Mr. Lancer and the Fenton parents decided to just chalk it up to paranoia that they were going to be attacked. Mr. Lancer knew that the group was against coming here, so he figured they're nerves finally got the better of them. After all, what ghost would be dumb enough to attack a ship with two fully grown ghost hunters (or at least one that had _Maddie Fenton _as a passenger)? No, he was going to show his students that there was nothing to be afraid of, so that the trip can go smoothly.

Jack and Maddie just rolled their eyes at their children for the reaction; they doubted there was any actual danger. If it wasn't nerves than it was probably just the group trying to get the field trip cut short. Mr. Lancer had phoned them yesterday about Danny and Sam's attitude towards going here so she was actually expecting something like this. No, they weren't going to let some paranoia and fear of the Ghost Zone ruin possibly their only chance to see what was beyond the portal they built (they were great ghost hunters after all and could handle anything that came their way).

And, that's why Paulina released an ear piercing shriek when the bus suddenly shook all over. "What's going on?" Kwan screamed holding his ears, but unfortunately his answer was the bus shaking again.

The nonbelievers had less than a second to grab onto something as suddenly an engine blew up and the group went spiraling down. "Hold on guys I'll—"

Whatever Danny was planning was cut off as a bag slammed into the back of his head knocking him into the seat in front of him and knocked him out. "DANNY!" Sam screamed after she cursed herself for not knowing any spells to slow the collision down.

"I got it!" Tucker told them as he ran to the front preparing to go Nano-Tech and catch the bus only for it to jerk one more time and _throw him through the windshield_!

"TUCKER!" Valerie shrieked as her boyfriend went flying, but she was tackled to the ground by Jazz as a loose seat nearly collided with her head. The save unfortunately slammed Jazz's head into Dash's knocking the two of them out. It was then that the bus finally hit hard rock resulting in the bus rolling around.

Dash no longer able to hang on due to his unconsciousness found himself ripping out of the seatbelt to crash into the ceiling as it flew off the bus. Star shrieked as she saw Dash's arm bend the wrong way! She didn't have time to pay attention to that as the red hot engine flying at her; she instinctively ducked but she didn't need to as her boyfriend ripped his own straps off and used his back to protect her.

It was a terrible sight as the boy was slammed right out of the rolling bus with the engine right on top of him. Jazz, who had slid under a seat, suddenly was flying in the air much to Maddie's horror as she released her grip on a pipe unintentionally causing it to become loose as she dived at her daughter and protected her as they slammed painfully into the grassy part of the floating rock.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Paulina screamed as a bunch of debris scraped past her face as well as knocking the pipe free. Paulina didn't see what happened to it though as Valerie regained her senses and pulled the Latino out of the way of the bus' engine fan flew at her. The two went flying out of the bus with Valerie taking most of the damage due to her protecting the royal pain.

However, they hit a bump at and the two went flying in separate directions; Valerie was flying through the small batch of trees her clothes getting ripped as she slid across the land while Paulina was scraped face first along the more rock part of the floating boulder.

"SARAH!" Paulina screeched as she slid to a stop and looked up with her bloody face to see the bus still rolling as she heard her best friend expel a sky piercing screaming. Paulina didn't get a chance to see what happened quite yet as another seat broke away from the bus with Danny and Sam soaring on it and two crashing in front of her.

Danny's fall worsened the hit to the back of his head as his skull cracked and Sam wrist released a nasty crack as she landed on it but no worse for wear.

"MR. FENTON!" Sam screamed as she unhooked herself and chased after the bus only for Mr. Lancer to come flying at her from the back of the bus with his leg bent backwards. Whatever happened to Star however had caused her to _still _be screaming at the top of her voice.

"SAM! THE EDGE!" Tucker screamed at his best friend as he pushed himself up...Both of his arms had been dislocated painfully.

"NO! SARAH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Paulina screamed as she saw the bus about to fall off the edge when Jack burst out of the window holding Star.

The horrifying part? The glass Jack burst through cut right into his throat so deeply it was a miracle he was alive.

He wasn't the worst though...No, it was Star who had piped go through her left eye at a downward angle that burst through the back of her head. Paulina's heart stopped as she saw her best friend face screaming with terror but no sound was coming out. She...She thought for sure she was dead. People don't survive injuries like that...It wasn't possible! "SSSSAAAAAARRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Paulina screeched in absolute horror as her vision became foggy by the bloody on her face getting in her eyes.

She couldn't believe all this happened in a period of twenty seconds.

Jazz's eyes shot open upon hearing the scream and she was horrified at the sight before her. "DADDY!" Jazz screeched as the large man fell to the ground with his neck bleeding while the blonde teenager lay on the ground mouth open. She couldn't waste any time as she pushed herself to her feet. "Sam! Grab the medical supplies next to you!" Jazz ordered as she ran past the girl and the locked trunk Jazz brought with her medical kit inside it that luckily didn't fall off the edge. "Mom! I need your help with Star! We have to get that pipe out! Tucker, try and slow down my dad's bleeding! I can't do him and Star at the same time!"

"SSSSAAAAARRRAAAAAAHHHH!" Paulina continued to scream crazily. "NO! YOU CAN'T BE DEAD SARAH! YOU _CAN'T_!"

"Paulina! Shut up!" Sam growled too high strung as she pulled out wraps. "Jazz obviously thinks she's still alive and your screaming isn't helping anyone! Wrap these around Danny's head instead to slow the bleeding down until Jazz can look at him! We'll take care of Star, so don't worry! Just be glad that Jazz took some medical courses in college!"

Paulina's hand trembled as she watched Sam limp over to Jazz dragging the trunk as fast as she could while Maddie slowly made her way over with obvious discomfort. She couldn't tell what was wrong, but whenever she tried to move too fast she would grunt in obvious pain. Tucker himself was grunting in extreme pain as he ignored his dislocated shoulders (she didn't even know anyone had that kind of strength of character let alone Tucker Foley of all people) and used his yellow sweater as a makeshift bandage.

Paulina shook her head and told herself to stop staring...While Danny Fenton might be a "loser" he was probably one of the only losers she actually did like. She refused to let him bleed to death, so she began to bandage his head up as well as she could with her hands shaking as they were. Still she wasn't silently cursing Mrs. Fenton to hurry the hell up because Star probably won't survive for much longer if she wasn't dead already.

Paulina wouldn't be able to handle it if Star died...Unlike Valerie, who was only part of the group originally because of money, Star had been her best friend since pre-k. She was sure Sam would still think that she would ditch Star because it was _impossible _for Star to get out of this unscathed, but she would never do that to her. Not Star, not her Sarah!

Star was the closest thing she's had for a sister and is the only one she would turn into a _geek_ for. No, Star meant the world to her; should Star die...She didn't know what she would do. Star was not just her friend either, she was her confidant.

She told Star _everything_...From one of her biggest reasons for liking Danny Phantom that didn't involve his looks, to how she was jealous of Sam's natural beauty since she needed pounds of make-up to compete with, and even the fact that she had a crush on Danny Fenton in middle school.

She looked down at the object of her former affections as she finally finished wrapping his head up...She hated seeing him like this as much as she hated seeing Star hurt. To be honest, Dash's bullying of him never bothered her...It was just a game, it was for _fun_.

Or, that's what she told herself as she reminded herself that he and Manson were too close anyway...There was no chance of a real relationship working between them with her there. That he was a loser and deserved it for not being better. She liked those excuses because they were good excuses; she was beautiful and plain intoxicating to everyone around her...What'd she need a loser like him anyway?

She kept telling herself that every day until she was completely convinced of it that she no longer felt any remorse for what happened and she could enjoy the misery of the freaky teen in peace. Now...Now she felt like the rug had been pulled from under her feet.

What if Star hated her for not helping her before she died? What if she lived and blamed her for this in the first place? What if Danny hates her? What if he _doesn't_? What would Dash think? How would Dash feel? What would the ghost boy think? What if she dies here? Would the world even care? Would she be remembered as some shallow little girl who couldn't comprehend the real world? Would they let her die?

Would Sam let her die?

Would _Danny_?

NO! No, she can't die here! No one can die here! Not until she makes it up to them! Not until Star knows how much she means to her! Not until Sam knows she doesn't hate her! Not until Danny knows about her former affections! Or, Dash knows about her current ones! Or, the ghost boy knows how she feels! She just _can't_! She _won't_!

SHE REFUSES THAT KIND OF FATE!

With that in mind she turns to look at her best friend as Maddie sat next to Jazz to begin the process while Sam sat next to Tucker making sure Jack Fenton would not bleed to death.

"Mom, we're going to have to pull that pipe out," Jazz whispered to her mother as she checked to make sure Star was still breathing.

She was.

"I don't have anything to numb her either...I need you to get something for her to bite down on." Maddie nodded to her daughter as she noticed a thick piece of one of the seats next to them and handed it to her daughter. "This'll work...Star can you hear me? Tap your pointer finger twice if you can, all right?"

Star tapped her finger twice on the ground. "Good...Listen Star, we're going to pull that pipe out and I'm not going to lie...It will hurt beyond your wildest dreams. That's why I need you to bite down on the seat because I can't numb the pain. Do you understand?"

Star tapped twice and bit down on the seat to prove she understood what was being said. Grateful, Maddie began to slowly pull the pipe out resulting in Star shrieking into her seat (which strangely relieved Paulina). As soon as the pipe had been moved out the back of her head, Jazz began to sew it close and put a patch over it...It was the best she could do considering the circumstances.

"You're doing well, Star," Jazz said soothingly as Maddie continued to pull. "We're almost there."

The second the pipe was out of her head though, Star couldn't take it anymore as she passed out from the overwhelming pain. Jazz thought it was for the best because she doubted Star would have been able to stand seeing her eye roll out...She could barely stand it and Maddie actually threw up on herself.

She was quick to stitch the unfortunate blonde's eye closed...Star would never be able to use that eye again. Sighing, Jazz bandaged her head up and Maddie laid her down on an intact seat. Jazz couldn't help but think that whatever kept this girl alive was nothing short of a pure miracle.

Really she should have died but she wasn't complaining.

Jazz knew she wasn't done yet though as she rushed to her pale father...Luckily, Tucker and Sam managed to prevent him from losing too much blood. She squeezed her hands into fists so tight that her knuckles turned white when she realized that like with Star, the most she'd be able to do would be to sew the wound shut and bandage it up. She's not even completely sure if it will even be able to work.

The only thing she knew for sure was that Jack Fenton would never speak again.

Sam silently fumed to her own stupidity of never learning any healing spells...It seemed like such an unimportant skill since they rarely got hurt like this being trained fighters and having healing factors. The only thing she knew was that if a wound was left for forty-eight hours it could not be magically healed. By the time she could get a healing book from the Ghost Writer's library it would be passed the time limit (you need a seventy-two hour notice to check out a book).

Jazz sighed loudly as she finished sewing her father up and knew she had to move to the others. She stopped first at Danny who she just checked the bandage for (he was already healing thanks to his ghost powers), and cleaned Paulina's face up of the blood and scratches (Sam respected the shallow girl a little bit more as she pushed herself to her feet instantly and sat at her best friend's side all without complaint). From there she stalked over to the semi-conscious Dash who cried out in pain as she forced it back into place and put it in a sling.

"Thanks," Dash groaned out and Jazz nodded acknowledging the praise while currently cursing her slowness at helping the others. The college girl moved on to the other football player who was laid on his stomach whimpering in pain as his back was badly burned from the engine. Jazz winced as she pulled out all the soothing creams she had and cleaned his back as he whimpered in pain.

"You're doing well so far, Kwan," Jazz assured him kindly.

"I...I can't...complain when...Star is hurt...hurt so bad," Kwan told her taking in a sharp breath and Jazz shook her head.

"Your injuries are just as bad as hers Kwan."

"It doesn't...feel that...that way to me," Kwan argued and Jazz sighed as she wrapped his back up.

Meanwhile, Sam helped push Tucker's shoulders back into place. "Th-Thanks Sam," Tucker grit out painfully and she nodded as she wrapped her own sprained wrist up. "Are you going to be okay, Mrs. Fenton?"

"I'm fine, Tucker. Just some bruises," Maddie whispered her hands playing with Jack's hair to stop herself from crying. The idea she would never hear Jack's soothing baritone voice again was like pure torture to her...Still she was glad that he at least survived.

"Okay," Tucker said standing up and walking over to where Valerie had pushed herself up. With everyone else taken care of, she found the time to find a tattered blanket that she made into a makeshift cloak until she got some new clothes since hers were thrashed completely.

"How are you feeling, Val?" Tucker asked his girlfriend softly as he sat next to her.

"I'm better now," Valerie assured him as she laid her head on his shoulder eliciting a smile from the tecno-geek.

"I'm glad."

Jazz finally moved onto the knocked out teacher and she quickly straightened his leg. After doing that she put it in a splint.

Danny groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, but immediately closed them upon seeing the bright green of the Ghost Zone. "Too bright..." He muttered as he ignored the throbbing on the back of his head...He'll be fine in a couple of hours after all.

"What do you expect in the Ghost Zone?" Sam questioned sitting next to him as she released a sigh of relief and a slight chuckle at his grumble.

"Sam...?"

"Yeah?"

"Come 'ere," he muttered and she leaned down to listen only for him to kiss her forehead. She smiled at the gesture and was glad to see him staring back at her (even if he did look a little unfocused). "Are you okay, Danny?"

"I'll be fine," Danny assured her grumbling. "Just a bit sore is all...What happened?"

"We...We crashed Danny." Sam bit her lip holding back a sob. "It's...It's really bad, Danny. Everyone's hurt so _bad_ and I can't do anything about it!"

Danny's insides froze and he slowly focused on everyone; Dash was sitting with Kwan (who had been moved to a seat and was laying down), Paulina was curled up on herself as she cried next to Star who was so pale she looked practically dead...He didn't even want to imagine why that bloody pipe was next to him, Tucker and Valerie were sitting side by side near the small forest just basking in each other's presence to comfort each other, Mr. Lancer was asleep on another seat, and his own family was seated next to his father as the large man laid immobile.

"Sam...What exactly happened?" Danny asked staring at his family with a horrible gut feeling that his father was worse than he looked, and so he was not completely shocked when Sam explained everything. He clenched his fists angrily...Usually when in the Ghost Zone, if it looked like they were going to crash he usually had enough time to at least turn it somewhat intangible to weaken the crash but since he was knocked out...

What annoyed him more though was the physics of the Ghost Zone! There are times where humans are like the ghosts and then others where it's the same as Earth! It was completely unpredictable and it left him unsure where a human could be safe...It made it impossible to know if they'll be okay...

"Sam, you mind helping me to my family?" Sam wasn't bothered as she helped her boyfriend to his feet. He was a little wobbly at first but he caught himself, so the two slowly made their way over to the Fentons. Danny felt sick to his stomach as he saw his mother's tears drowning her face and Jazz's completely helpless look.

"Danny..." Maddie muttered seeing her son and instantly she felt ashamed of herself. She had been so worried about her husband that she had neglected her son. Her beautiful baby boy was pushed to the side just like he had been most of his childhood when a new ghost related topic appeared.

Maddie grabbed her son in a fierce hug of comfort (whether for him or for herself was unknown); Danny wrapped his arms around his mother as he held back his own tears. It hurt to see his proud, strong mother so vulnerable and weak, and if he could make her feel even a little bit better he will.

After what seemed ages but was really only a couple of minutes the two pulled back. "I love you."

"I love you too, mom," Danny whispered giving her hand a final squeeze before turning to his sister. "Jazz..."

"Danny...I...I'm sorry..." Jazz apologized tears glistening her eyes. "I can't help daddy...He...I don't have the right supplies...Or the expertise...Or...I just don't know...I even with all of my intelli...I mean I just _can't_ help...But, I _should _have been able...I...I'm sorry...I..."

"Jazz, it's not your fault," Danny told her hugging his now openly crying sister against his chest. "He's alive, Jazz. He's hurt yes, but he's _alive_. The injury...Even if you had the right tools and expertise that doesn't guarantee you'd do better than you did now. Wallowing in self pity won't help him...You know how dad is Jazz. He likes to see us laugh and smile."

"Yeah, he does, doesn't he?" Jazz smiled at her brother. "The big goof."

"The biggest goof in the world," Danny agreed with a small smile.

"But...What do we do now Danny?"

"We keep going, Jazz. We've still got our own portal, right? We'll just build something from the scraps (or rather Tuck and Val will) and head back." Jazz wiped her eyes with her sleeve but smiled at her brother as she nodded agreeing.

Danny smiled one more time at her before standing up straight to look at everyone; Maddie looked at her son in wonder in that one moment. It was like something changed the way he stood, the way his eyes glistened with sympathy and determination, and there was something powerful about him in that one second that she didn't understand.

This was not the clumsy, shy, goofy son she'd known for eighteen years...This Danny screamed confidence and leadership.

"Mom, Paulina, Dash, Jazz and Sam," Danny spoke up. "I think you should go searching through the bit of woods to see if anything besides a blanket and Valerie went flying in there."

Dash (now fully conscious) snapped his head towards the boy with disbelief...Even with everything that happened he couldn't believe the boy just _ordered _him to do something! The kid he wailed on and humiliated every day for _years _had the nerve to try and take charge?

Not on his watch!

"Who made you—"

"Just do what he says, Dash."

"But, Paulina—"

"I said to just do it!" Paulina screeched and Dash decided for now he'll follow orders. It would be better to let Paulina relax a little before he took over command of this trip (he was captain of the football team after all...Why would they listen to that wimp in his place?), so with a sigh he stood up and followed the group.

While that little party was out and about, Danny, Tuck and Valerie began to look through whatever parts of the bus survived while Kwan, Mr. Lancer, Jack and Star slept. There really wasn't much that could be made as far as Danny could tell, but then again he wasn't the techno-wiz of the group. He turned to look at the technology geniuses and he couldn't help but burst out laughing as Tucker pouted while Valerie held her blanket angrily.

"Tucker! What are you thinking pulling my blanket up like that?" Valerie screeched offended.

"Like it matters...You're so wrapped up you're practically a mummy!" Tucker argued which caused Danny to slap his head in disbelief.

"That's beside the point!" Valerie yelled at him furiously. "I told you, you don't get to see nothing until we are at least engaged!"

"Valerie, will you—?"

"No," she interrupted him annoyed. "I'm not accepting until you actually mean it."

"I meant it last time—"

"We had been dating two days! Of course I didn't accept!"

"That's not the poi—"

"Find anything useful, Tuck?" Danny cut in having heard this argument at least a million times and the two immediately stopped with sheepish smiles.

"Uh...Yeah...I can definitely make some weapons from this stuff," Tucker assured blushing a little at falling into the old fight when things were this serious. "A couple ecto-grenades, some ecto-pistols, an ecto-sword and a few ecto-bazookas; the only vehicle to survive the crash was your bike."

"That's all?" Danny asked disappointed.

"Well, I think I might be able to make a walking boot for Mr. Lancer, but nothing else really." Tucker's face turned grave. "Dude I need you to come over here."

"What's up?" Danny asked walking over only for him to poke the back of his neck and he looked at the techno-lad confused as realization dawned on his face.

"I thought so..." Tucker muttered.

"What are you talking about?"

"You have a ghost sense blocker attached to the back of your neck," Tucker told him.

"Skulker must have put on me during the fight...I thought I felt something there but I just chalked it up to a sting from a small ghost ray that he hit me with."

"I'm beginning to wonder if Skulker's suit really was malfunctioning at all," Valerie spat out. "Don't you find it strange that the same day as your fight with Skulker, Vlad plans a trip like this?"

"You think Vlad attacked the Fenton Bus?" Danny asked and they heard the sound of clapping from above them.

"Oh very good Daniel," Vlad Plasmius mocked and Tucker instantly fired one of his specialized ecto-pistols (his human weapon) at Vlad only for the Dracula-like ghost to dodge. "I wouldn't bother Mr. Foley seeing as how I am nothing more than a duplicate."

"Where's the real you Vlad?" Valerie demanded angrily.

"Now that's the question...Where or where could Uncle Vladdie be?" Vlad scratched his chin in mock thought. "Oh, I know! He's destroying the Fenton portal!"

"WHAT?" The three teens cried out together.

"Of course...What would be the point of stranding you here if you could just leave through the portal?" Vlad asked rhetorically.

"You stranded us here? You nearly killed us!" Danny screamed and his eyes turned neon green.

"Oh look the 'angry eyes'." Vlad laughed. "My dear boy, I WAS trying to kill you! If it was not for Miss Gray, I would have done so!"

"Then you came to finish the job?" Danny snarled. "Over my dead body!"

"Oh, I'm not so foolish as to think that a duplicate could kill your little team," Vlad said dismissively. "I only came to revel in Jack Fenton's little injury...How glorious is it that no one ever has to hear that blithering idiot speak again?"

"Vlad...You...You...I'll kill you!" Danny screamed, but Vlad just laughed before popping from existence. Danny let out a feral yell as he tried to stop himself from changing to his alter-ego...It would do no good right now. Vlad would not have told him about the destruction of their ghost portal unless he already had done so.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Valerie asked.

"First things first...We got to get off this pile of rubble," Danny said. "Since it seems we can't make anything to ride out of here and there are too many to just fly we'll have to figure out alternate means. Are there any big land masses nearby, Tuck?"

Tucker pulled out his PDA and a hologram of the Ghost Zone appeared. "The nearest structure is Technus' lab...I'm not so sure about going there."

"No, that's good...Technus will have stuff to build at least some sort of hover vehicle for everyone to cross on or something," Valerie disagreed. "But, that doesn't explain how we're going to get there."

"Jazz," Danny answered. "Her telekinesis will move the island...She won't be able to move something this big for a long time, but Technus' lab should be close enough."

"How are we going to get everyone to listen to us though?" Tucker asked. "I doubt telling them to just trust will work."

"We'll tell them the truth...Or at least the truth that we've been in here before to get them to listen," Danny told them. "I'll tell them about Dad's present getting lost in here as the first time we went in...Even though it's not."

"Where are we going to?" Valerie asked. "The Far Frozen?"

"We're going to try Vlad's portal first...It's the closest and he might not be able to deactivate it since he still needs to come in," Danny explained. "If that doesn't work it's off to the Far Frozen."

"And, if that doesn't work?" Tucker asked.

"Clockwork's tower."

"Then I guess we better get started making the weapons," Tucker said indicating himself and Valerie.

On Team Phantom, Tucker was the designer and Valerie was the builder...Tucker could design almost anything out of tech, but when it came to building he was completely useless. Likewise Valerie could build just about anything thanks to helping her dad as well as fixing her old ghost hunting equipment, but she just wasn't creative enough to make her own designs. That's why it was thanks to Valerie joining the team that they had their own personalized weapons...Tucker had designed them a long time ago, but he just couldn't see to put them together right.

Danny nodded in agreement, but flinched when he realized that meant he would have to be the one to explain. Sighing, Danny sat down as he waited for his the other group to return...

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2: Okay, I decided I'm going to explain some of the choices I made during this chapter.**

**1. I allowed most of the class to skip because they are of little consequence in the grand scheme of things...They are simply the "class". I think the only named character outside of the A-list and main characters is Mikey and he's so wimpy I can't see him not skipping out.**

**The populars thinks to highly of themselves to believe something would happen to them (Pft!) as well as the fact that Paulina wanted to try and see Danny Phantom.**

**Team Phantom decided to go as the protectors of the students (great job there...).**

**Mr. Lancer and the Fentons joined because of their jobs.**

**Jazz went because her parents forced her to come to make it a family outing.**

**2. The Bus Crash:**

**Okay, so mass majority of the time the field trip vehicle crashes in these stories...I always found it strange that no one actually seems to really get injured. I mean with the speed these vehicles move at, it's almost assured that _someone _has to receive some sort of major injury. Especially because majority of the time no one is wearing anything to protect them in a crash...So, I decided that they won't be coming out of this unscathed.**

**3. Star and Jack:**

**First, I want to say I know how the injuries fixed are probably really bad, but I have no real medical knowledge. I just decided to go with them being sewn back together and used it as Jazz's own inexperience in medical matters.**

**That said I chose Star to receive major injury as a way to sort of put things in perspective for Paulina, Dash and Kwan; I showed that they weren't invincible. It also helps to add some depth to Paulina's character...I just feel like there's more that could be explored with the A-list and it's really no fun to write a story with zero character growth. Oh, and the reason I have Star being her nickname and not her real name is because it is important for the Paulina/Star friendship.**

**Jack's injury was sort of to let the adults realize that they were vulnerable as well...It was also in a way to help Jack calm down and notice things better now that he can't blather on about ghosts. I believe that Jack is in fact a genius just like his wife, but when he begins his tangents he loses focus making him seem dumber.**

**4. The Fenton Portal:**

**Well, am I the only that finds it stupid that majority of the time when people write a story they have the characters go all the way to Frost Bite's lair when the Fenton Portal is always open and easy to get to? I personally believe that by having Vlad destroy it, it makes more sense for them to have wander around. I'll explain why they don't use natural portals next chapter.**

**5. Skulker:**

**I wonder how many you thought the fight with Skulker was inconsequential? I purposely didn't write out the fight to prevent people from putting clues together...Although I was hoping someone made the connection between Skulker appearing and Vlad forcing Danny on a field trip the next day...Oh well...**

**So, that is basically why I chose to do what I did this chapter, so please don't ask about why Star or anything like that.**

**Edits**

**-Confrontation between Vlad and Maddie at the beginning explained**

**-Added scene of breakfast**

**-Shown the full crash rather than just that it crashed and injured after**

**-Much more introspective for Paulina**

**-Family comfort for the Fentons**

**-Small little details added  
><strong>


	3. Arc I: Technus

**A/N: A lot of you mentioned that Star wouldn't have survived her injury...You are right of course. In the original draft for the chapter I actually killed Star, but then I decided it was a bit too early to kill off any characters...Plus I think Paulina's character growth would work better with Star alive then dead.**

**The reason I didn't change Star's injury was out of pure laziness...I had already written up the entirety of the injury and didn't feel like redoing a whole part, so I just made her survive by a miracle and pure dumb luck.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN DANNY PHANTOM!**

* * *

><p><strong>Technus' Lab<strong>

"Did any of you find anything?" Danny asked the search group.

"There was nothing usable," Sam informed him with a sigh.

"What now?" Dash asked worried and Danny sighed knowing it was the moment of truth.

"We are currently drifting—" He sent Jazz a look and she nodded slowly. "—to Technus' lair."

Sam and Jazz's eyebrows shot up realizing that Danny is revealing their knowledge of the Ghost Zone, but he sent them a look that said, "I'll explain later."

"How do you know where we're going, Sweetie?" Maddie asked.

"And, who is Technus?" Paulina added pretty sure she had heard that name before.

"Technus is the master of all things technology and long winded speeches." Danny, Sam and Jazz snickered at the inside joke while everyone else just look confused before Danny turned serious. "As to how I know where we're going...I've been in here plenty of times."

"WHAT?" Maddie screeched in shock. "DANNY! HOW COULD YOU BE SO FOOLISH TO COME INTO THE GHOST ZONE WITHOUT PROTECTION? YOU COULD HAVE DIED!"

"LIKE YOU'RE ONE TO TALK!" Danny argued furiously. "WHAT WERE YOU AND DAD THINKING WHEN YOU AGREED TO A FIELD TRIP IN HERE? ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING OR EVEN THE GHOSTS! AND, NOW WE HAVE TO FIND SOMEWAY OUT SINCE THE FENTON PORTAL WAS DESTROYED!"

"WHAT?" Everyone screeched in shock and Danny took a deep breath.

"That ghost you call the Wisconsin Ghost was the one who attacked the Fenton Bus," Danny explained wearily. "He wanted to kill us or something, but he explained that he quite slyly used our leave to trap us in here."

"You...You mean we can't go back home?" Paulina asked unable to stand, but Sam shook her head.

"There are other portals to get back to Amity," Sam told her feeling a bit bad despite herself. "I know for a fact there's another portal that is always open."

"That's where we are headed to once we get to Technus' lab," Danny explained bringing everyone back to the original conversation. "But, that one might also be destroyed since the Wisconsin Ghost knows about that one too."

"Where will we go if that one's closed?" Maddie asked unnerved that her son seems to know more about the Ghost Zone than she and Jack ever did...Maddie had to force back her tears as she thought about her injured husband and how (according to Jazz) she'll never get to hear his wonderful voice again.

"The Far Frozen probably," Jazz guessed and Danny nodded. "The leader there has a map called the Infini-Map and with it we should be able to find a correct natural portal."

Paulina and Dash looked absolutely confused causing Sam to roll her eyes that despite everything, something's never change. "Natural portals are ghost portals like the Fentons' portal except they open by themselves," Sam explained exasperated...It was obvious from the name! "Like the one up there!"

Up above a portal opened up suddenly causing the non-Team Phantom members to get excited. "We have to get in before it closes!" Maddie commanded and the three were about to run off when Jazz, Danny and Sam held them down.

"What are you doing Fen-toenail?" Dash snarled as he tried to unsuccessfully break the boy's grip on his arm. "It's our chance to get out of this place!"

"Trust me Dash, you don't want to do that," Danny told him firmly.

"But, Sweetie—"

"No, mom," Jazz interrupted seriously holding her mother down. "Natural portals are nice and all, but they are unpredictable and can even land you in a whole other time period."

"She's telling the truth Maddie," Sam piped up. "Danny, Tucker and I accidentally went into the wrong portal once and ended up all the way back during the Salem witch trials."

Maddie, Paulina and Dash visibly deflated and Paulina began to cry. "So, we, like, have no choice but to, like, stay here?" Paulina asked depressed and wondering if Star would be up for such a trip.

"Technus will most likely have technology that can be used to make some vehicles or something," Danny assured them. "We'll make some and sail across to the permanent portal and if that doesn't work, we'll go to the Far Frozen."

Dash scowled when he realized that Danny had somehow managed to worm his way into being in charge and he didn't like the idea of the geek protecting them. He had no choice...He realized that for Kwan's sake he'll have to deal with it, but as soon as they were out of this spooky place he was going to wail on Danny hard enough so he knows not to try that again. A loser like him doesn't get to be in charge. "Is that all Fenatina?" Dash asked with a scowl and Danny nodded.

The two A-listers quickly left to go check on their friends...Although every time Paulina looked at Star she couldn't stop tears forming in her eyes. "Pa...Paul...ina..." Star moaned quietly.

"Sarah, are you okay?" Paulina asked instantly at her best friend's side.

"It...hurts..." Star moaned to herself.

"Oh, Sarah!" Paulina cried on her friends chest and Star began to pet her best friend's head despite her own pain.

"You...called...me...Sarah..." Star said painfully. "It...must...be...bad..."

"Don't you remember what happened, Sarah?" Paulina asked nervously.

"No...Why...?"

"It's...It's bad Sarah," Paulina mumbled her body shaking and her face racked with tears. "You lost your eye and almost died!"

"Die...? Me...?" Star asked and she suddenly realized she was only looking out of one eye. "My...eye...?"

"Sarah, please calm down!" Paulina cried out as Star began to fall into shock as she kept whispering, "My...eye...my...eye..." over and over again. Star barely listened as she started sobbing out of her one eye and the fact she only could from one eye caused her to cry even harder. "It'll be okay Sarah! We can get through this!"

"No...I...I'm...ugly...now..." Star sobbed. "I...can't...be...your...friend...anymore..."

"I will always be your friend Sarah!" Paulina said squeezing her best friend's hand reassuringly. "I'll...I'll start wearing an eye patch and we can tell everyone it's the newest fashion!"

"You'd...do...that...for...me...?"

"I'd do anything for you."

"Thank...you..." Star said before sighing and falling back asleep.

"Good night Sarah," Paulina murmured and kissing Star on the cheek...She'll make sure nothing else happens to her in this hell hole if it was the last thing she had to do.

"How you holding up man?" Dash asked Kwan as he lay there tiredly.

"Not so bad now that it's cleaned up," Kwan reassured him, but wincing a little as he moved. "How's the arm?"

"Wouldn't even know it was broken if I didn't try to move it," Dash grumbled. "It's my throwing arm though!"

"Oh tough break."

"Coach is going to kill me! The big game's next week and he was counting on me!"

"Ya know...I don't think I blame Fenton for not wanting to come in here," Kwan said. "This place sucks already and we only got here..."

Kwan trailed off as he noticed the scowl on Dash's face. "Fenton's been in here more than you think Kwan," Dash said through grit teeth. "I can't believe that wimp is in charge!"

"I'm sure Fenton will get us out of here," Kwan said optimistically. "I still can't believe your _still _mad that he caused you to fall off the monkey bars in Kindergarten!"

"Hey! It's not just that!" Dash defended himself. "Remember in second grade when he tripped while playing soccer? I broke my ankle!"

"Technically, that was payback for beating up Foley," Kwan reminded him with a smirk. "I still don't know you managed to fit him into his own backpack..."

"Fine, so it was payback for messing with Foley," Dash muttered. "But, what about in sixth grade when he gave me that swirly?"

"Oh yes, the famous swirly incident...How did Fenton manage that one anyway?" Kwan asked because even to this day he didn't know.

"The little punk dropped my baseball into the toilet!" Dash mumbled bitterly. "When I went to go pick it up, he shoved my head in and flushed! Three times!"

Kwan chuckled quietly just imagining how Dash must have looked when he realized what happened. "What's with you and defending Fenton anyway?" Dash asked. "In fact you've been trying to get me to lay off for weeks."

Kwan flinched as he remembered his promise to Fenton...

_"Fenton! What are you doing?" Kwan demanded as he saw the little geek sneak into Mr. Lancer's class and take out the multiple choice quiz they just took._

_"SH!" Danny pulled him into the room._

_"If you are trying to ruin Dash's—"_

_"It's not like that!" Danny said holding his and Dash's paper._

_"Then what is it?" Kwan crossed his arms and gave a "I'm waiting nerd" look._

_"Okay, I know that if Dash doesn't pass this test the coach is going to kick him off the football team," Danny explained and Kwan gave him a "what's it to you" look. "Dash didn't do well at all...I looked over his paper and he only got three out of fifty questions right!"_

_Kwan flinched and wondered what this had to with Fenton, and how was Dash going to react when he got off the team. "But, Dash doesn't deserve to be kicked off!" Danny told him. "I saw him yesterday...The whole day some ghost kept attack him to draw out Phantom! He couldn't study no matter how much he tried to."_

_"Where's this going Fenton?"_

_"I'm switching mine and Dash's tests...I'll be okay with another F, but Dash won't."_

_"YOU'RE WHAT?"_

_"Shut up! Do you want Mr. Lancer to catch us?" Kwan wisely shut up. "I swear that's all I'm doing!"_

_"That seems strangely nice for Dash's number one punching bag," Kwan pointed out, but Danny just shrugged._

_"If Dash gets kicked off I want it to be fair and square," Danny said dismissively. "Promise not to tell Dash?"_

_"You know if I do, he might lay off you."_

_"I don't care...I'm not doing it for that. So, promise?"_

_"Fine, I promise not to tell Dash."_

_"Thanks."_

"It's nothing special," Kwan assured his friend. "Just this gut feeling that it might eventually come to bite is in the butt someday."

"Oh yeah, you believe in that 'clama' stuff."

"You mean 'karma'."

"Yeah, that." Dash didn't look bothered. "I don't believe in that stuff."

"Hope you're right."

Meanwhile, Danny was trying to explain to his mom about the present that actually ended up in the Ghost Zone.

"You should have just let the present go!" Maddie scolded. "I don't see how it was so important that you had to come in here!"

"I told you; I thought that you might decide to divorce dad over him losing it," Danny retorted.

"Fine, but why did you keep coming in after that?"

"I was a curious fourteen year old boy with two equally curious friends, and you left it unattended most of the time...Didn't you think I would mess with it?" Danny asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I thought you would avoid after your accident!" Maddie shot back. "And, I thought Jazz had more sense than to go through!"

"Well, it's good thing we didn't," Danny pointed out. "We at least have a map of the Ghost Zone and understand the place...unlike you and dad."

Maddie stepped back like she had been slapped, but she didn't yell at Danny for that. Not when she knew he was absolutely right...What were they thinking when they were going to let a bunch of teenagers go into the Ghost Zone when they, the experts, didn't know the place at all.

Okay, she knew Jack was okay with it since Vlad asked for them to do it, but usually she was much more level headed then that. Oh who was she kidding? She knew exactly why she did it.

She did it because ever since college she had wanted to go in, but when they got the government funding to build one (as they were the only ones who actually figured it out) they were told they couldn't go in. They could make it, they could open, they could even study it, but they were not allowed in without reason. Vlad's offer was the perfect excuse and now look where they were...Her husband gravely injured and another student actually lost her eye.

She never felt so ashamed of herself. "I'm...I'm sorry Danny," Maddie said tears in her eyes. "This whole thing was nothing but a mistake!"

"Don't cry mom," Danny said uncomfortably. "We'll still get out."

"I know...I just need some time to myself..."

"Why don't you go sit by dad? He'll probably wake up any minute now." Maddie nodded and went to be with her husband...She loved him so much! And, he lost one of his best traits because of this trip!

'_We are not fixing the portal after this...Look what's it done,_' Maddie thought taking Jack's hand and squeezing it fearfully.

Danny looked sadly at these regular people caught in the crossfire of Vlad's stupid plot; he hoped Vlad would be forced to keep his portal open. He was sure that he would at least have to reveal himself at that point since Vlad's sure to have a powerful guard...But, for now he felt it would be best to keep it a secret.

"You okay Jazz?" Danny said looking at his sister who had retreated behind a tree so no one could see her pinkish-purple hair and eyes as she sat in a meditative pose with a strained look on her face.

"_It's hard to move something this large,_" Jazz informed him telepathically.

"I know you can do it Jazz," Sam assured her as she began gathering the packs together and lightened the load of anything they wouldn't need for this little trip.

"What's our ETA?" Danny asked.

"_We should be there in thirty minutes._"

Danny sighed...Hopefully, after their little visit to Technus they'll be out of here. Vlad was up to something in the human world and every minute they were here was another minute Vlad could succeed.

He shook his head; he couldn't think about that right now. Right now his priority was getting everyone out of here without any more serious injuries. Hopefully, Technus was out terrorizing Skulker again or something because his security drones were easy enough to get by, but Technus eight point o wasn't a pushover.

Fifteen minutes later, Valerie and Tucker had returned with their weapons and Danny knew it was time to get the group prepared. "Everyone!" Danny called out. "We'll be arriving at Technus' lab in fifteen minutes...It's time we prepared ourselves."

Paulina, Star (who had woken back up five minutes ago), Dash, Kwan, Mr. Lancer (who had jolted awake ten minutes ago when he rolled off his makeshift bed and hurt his leg more), Jack (who had woken up no more than two minutes after Maddie sat next to him) and Maddie looked at him curiously.

"Prepare ourselves for what?" Kwan asked.

"To fight our way through there," Valerie told him. "Technus' got a nasty security system we are going to have to go through if we're to get to his stash."

"Star can't fight! She's hurt!" Paulina screamed scandalized.

"We don't have any choice, okay?" Danny looked annoyed. "We are going to have to leave in a hurry which means we won't be coming back here, so deal with it!"

Paulina looked mutinous, but Star shook her head. She knew that right now Danny seemed to know what to do according to Paulina herself, so it would be better to just follow his orders.

"What are we going to fight with?" Dash asked. "In case you haven't noticed Fenturd, none of us have weapons!"

"Tucker and Valerie have taken care of that," Danny informed him with an annoyed voice. "Tucker, Valerie, if you will?"

"Okay, so first of all I have a walking boot for Mr. Lancer," Tucker explained putting it on Mr. Lancer's leg. "With this it will walk for you without straining your broken leg, so you won't limp along. I've also got a simple wrist ray for you to use."

Mr. Lancer looked relieved at that. "For Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, we've got a bazooka," Valerie said and Jack silently mouthed thank you much to Danny and Maddie's dismay. "I've got a rifle here for Kwan."

Kwan took the ecto-rifle and found it wasn't that different from a regular hunting rifle (he and his dad went deer hunting every year). "For Dash and Star we've got an ecto-hand gun," Tucker explained handing one to each of them (Paulina grit her teeth as Star tried to aim with it but found she aimed better with her missing eye). "And, an ecto-sword for Paulina."

Paulina held the sword gingerly wondering if she would be any good with this thing seeing as how she never even used a knife before let alone a sword. Jack made some gestures towards Danny and his weapon much to everyone's confusion. "I think he's wondering where Danny's weapon is," Maddie explained and Jack nodded a little (he couldn't do too much with his neck right now. "And, where are your own weapons."

"We already have our own weapons," Danny informed her as he pulled out a small cylinder and pushed a red button. Suddenly the cylinder lengthened into a long staff and an ecto-energy blade shot out; Danny spun it around expertly in a way that even Dash had to be impressed. "Ecto-Scythe."

"Long range rifle," Valerie said and to prove her point she shot a small floating rock that was barely in anyone's vision. "Short range machine gun."

Valerie showed a small machine gun that obviously fired off ecto-bullets. "Dual ecto-hand guns," Tucker said firing two shots...One shot curved per his thoughts and another actually cut through the ecto-shot.

"Ecto-gloves and boots," Sam said walking over with Jazz wearing a silver glove and boots with green energy flowing through them like crazy (she couldn't wear her other glove due to her wrist). She did a series of punches of kicks where ecto-energy came off in small bursts.

"Ecto-shield," Jazz said showing a silver shield that when she concentrated a series of blades ignited on the side to show it was indeed a weapon.

Danny couldn't help but smirk as everyone gaped at them. "What? We've been in here plenty of times you know! Did you think we came in unarmed?"

They only continued to gape like fish until Tucker cried, "Land ho!"

Dash spun around to see a black and silver castle that looked it came right out of a horror movie. The sight of the lightening and blasters and crazed giant robots guarding the gate sure put what this was going to be like in perspective! Here he was expecting to waltz in like some spy movie dodging the so called henchmen, maybe take a couple out before finding what they needed and sneaking out. There was no way that was happening now!

"Everyone get ready! We're storming the place!" Danny cried out and Dash could only watch in shock as the second their little island touched the stairs leading up to the lab, the nerds were going like they've done this a hundred times.

"Watch out Fenton!" Kwan yelled as one of the giant robots swung their arm down at him, but the secret Halfa just back flipped causing the giant's arm to get stuck in the ground. Danny wasted no time as he jumped on the arm and began to run up the arm, dodging miniature lasers or even just cutting them off with his scythe.

"We do not have time for you!" Danny declared as he reached the head and the blade expanded to giant proportions allowing him to slice the head off. It was then that Sam suddenly jumped right up to the monsters shoulders thanks to her boots and brought her fist down to smash straight through as if made from paper.

"I'm going in!" Valerie told Tucker and Jazz as she tried to get in close to fire through the stupid things legs, but the continuous lasers were keeping her at bay.

"We'll cover you!" Tucker told her as he shot down laser after laser while Jazz threw her shield to slice through them. Valerie nodded her thanks and hurried to the beast's right leg and used one of row of ecto-shots from her machine gun to blast the leg apart and used two shots from her long range rifle to bring the left leg down.

"In coming Tuck!" Tucker was already on it as he put his two guns together and fired them off simultaneously causing a giant ecto-blast to blow out that tore down the upper part of the robot's torso to disintegrate.

"Coming through!" Sam said and she punched the gate down crushing a small armory of security robots before turning to the new "recruits". "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

"I am so in love with her right now," Danny whispered with a smirk. "CHARGE!"

Spider robots instantly began to swarm as Danny sliced through them with practiced ease; Dash was firing his little gun as best as he could...He missed every other shot. "What the heck Fenton!" Dash screamed as he tackled a spider-bot into the wall. "I thought we were sneaking in!"

"No way Dash! Technus would catch us in a heartbeat either way!" Danny yelled back as he spun around slicing through the surrounding bots. "We're forcing our way through!"

"I can't help but think you didn't think this through Danny!" Maddie told him as she shot a large scorpion-bot with Jack blasting down a huge storm.

"You won't touch Star!" Paulina cried furiously as she sliced through any robot that dared to get close to the one eyed girl; Sam covered her back grudgingly impressed with Paulina's loyalty (she didn't think she had it in her, but she should know better than to underestimate people).

"Stay back!" Kwan screamed frightened as a group of wolf-bots attacked him only for him to shoot them down widely.

"Dude! Don't shoot with your eyes closed!" Tucker screamed as he rolled out of the way of a shot and returned fire to a tiger-bot that nearly caught Mr. Lancer. The old man was not very good and hadn't made a single shot unfortunately.

"This hallways clear!" Valerie yelled and everyone ran to a hallway with nothing but a bunch of dead robots courtesy of Valerie's machine gun. "Where do we have to go, Tuck?"

A hologram of Technus' lab appeared on Tucker's PDA pointing out that any main tech was located in a lab near Technus' throne room. "We have to pass the throne room too...If Technus is there we'll have to fight through."

The next hour was spent bursting through the hallways gunning down, slicing through and smashing as many robots as they could get. Danny's entire left arm was completely cut up and oozing blood that Jazz quickly bandaged, Dash couldn't get his body to respond completely correctly thanks to being blasted with electricity over and over again and Maddie soon found that she'll most likely have a scar down her back when a grasshopper-bot sliced right through her.

It was Paulina who was suffering the most though...In her declaration that no one would hurt Star, she soon found that many of the robots began focusing on the blonde to the point that Paulina was taking hits more than stopping them. Her body was riddled with scratches and at one point she had to pull a snake-bot fang right out of her shoulder. By this point, it would be a miracle if she came out of this fight with less than hundred knew scars.

That didn't stop Paulina though and Sam saw the same ferocity that Paulina used to show exactly why she was the top girl at Casper High School. The girl was relentless and determined...The most amazing thing was that she could actually be said that she was winning since Star had yet to suffer a single injury.

"Just down this hall and we'll be in the throne room," Tucker told them and they ran down...It worried Danny the way there wasn't a single robot. His fears were confirmed when they opened the door and found Technus sitting on his throne with a cocky smirk on his face.

"Well...It seems you've once again made it through my defenses," Technus said unbothered. "But, this is where you end your little game."

"I don't think so Technus!" Danny screamed and rushed forward swinging his scythe only for it to be caught effortlessly.

"I'm afraid so child," Technus told him as he caught Sam by the wrist with his other hand. "My new upgrade has made me far superior to you and your little 'team'."

"EAT THIS!" Valerie screamed and fired a long range shot at close range only for the bullet to disintegrate under his shield. Jazz was forced to shield her when Technus fired a shot back.

"How pathetic...It seems none of you have upgraded since our last meeting," Technus mocked as he increased the power of his blast to knock Jazz and Valerie back as he threw Sam and Danny against the wall while shooting a powerful blast at Tucker sending him flying. "None of you are any match for Nicolai Technus the master of all technology! Today shall be my victory!"

Kwan could only watch in horror...As they fought their way through this mad scientist's lair he had learned one important thing: the nerds could kick major butt. Except here they were getting blasted around like they were weaklings...They had said this guy was dangerous but this was insane. And, they beat him before? How?

"No it won't!" Tucker declared rushing forward and no one saw when he transformed his hand into a robotic part that smashed straight through Technus' shields to send him flying. "Danny! Get everyone into the room while I hold him off! Valerie already has the needed designs, so don't worry!"

"Alright Tucker, but remember you are only delaying him!" Danny said as the team agreed, but the nonmembers just looked on shock.

"We're not leaving him behind Fenton!" Dash told him harshly. "You barely could handle him as a team, how do you expect him to beat him alone!"

"I don't!" Danny screamed back. "He's only delaying Technus until we can get out of here! Now hurry!"

"But—" Dash never got to finish that sentence as Kwan realized this and literally grabbed the boy by his good arm to follow Fenton; now was not the time to be stubborn! They needed to get the hell out of dodge like yesterday!

"Let's go Star," Paulina said pulling her friend (who by now was leaning on Paulina for support due to fatigue) to follow Fenton and the other geek squad.

"Don't you dare die on me Foley," Valerie said to her boyfriend and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"After that? I can't lose!" Tucker said cockily making Valerie grin a little before following everyone out the adjacent room and closing the giant door behind her. It instantly locked behind her much to her dismay.

"Come on Valerie! We need to go!" Sam said trying not to look back herself as they rushed into the lab.

Meanwhile, Tucker was watching the door grimly before a sardonic smile showed on his face. "Goodbye Tucker," Tucker said as his body began to transform into complete and total metal...It wasn't long before his body was nothing but a mechanical version of himself without the hair and his eyes red slits. "Hello Nano-Tech."

"No sooner had Nano-Tech said that did Technus kick the pile of rubble off him. "Ah...Now there's my old pawn!" Technus laughed merrily.

"Get over yourself dude, I was your pawn for all of like five minutes!"Nano-Tech told him mockingly and Technus frowned.

"How true...I had not expected you to fuse with the nano-bots I created so easily even after discovering you were infected with my ecto-energy thanks to you using technology I had repeatedly taken control of," Technus said thoughtfully. "Of course you followed orders just fine and nearly killed that pest Danny Phantom due to him not wanting to hurt you...It was unfortunate that you punched that circuit breaker allowing you to reset and assume master control."

"And, make myself bio-mechanical rather than just robotic," Nano-Tech delayed. "I guess I _should _thank you in a way...After all, you did give me power to help my friends defeat you!"

"Just rub it in why don't you—" Technus paused mid sentence. "Do not think I don't know what you are doing!"

"Doing what?" Nano-Tech asked innocently. "I'm afraid I don't unders—"

Nano-Tech rolled out of the way as Technus blasted at him. "I will not be delayed!"

"Darn it!" Nano-Tech swore under his breath before he turned his forearm into a shield to stop the blast and transformed his other arm into a cannon that fired blast after blast of ecto-energy only for Technus' own shield to block it. Nano-Tech quickly realized this wasn't going anywhere, so he redirected the beam upwards and used the ceiling falling in as a cover to get in close.

Nano-Tech threw a straight punch that Technus blocked; Technus wasn't done as he used one of his tentacles to try and catch Nano-Tech, but it was caught by a third arm forming out of Nano-Tech's back. Nano-Tech used a sweep kick to knock Technus off his feet and then round housed the falling ghost. Technus went flying, but his arm extended out as he grabbed Nano-Tech by the throat and brought him face to face to receive a vicious head butt.

Technus wasn't done however as he channeled electricity into his right fist and punched Nano-Tech in the stomach so hard it went straight through him. Nano-Tech screamed in pain as he forced Technus' fist out and thanked all things that were good that he was fighting as Nano-Tech and not Tucker Foley. Nano-Tech didn't have time to recover as Technus blasted him with a powerful ecto-shot that sent him flying across the room.

Technus didn't waste any time as he soared to his main lab room, but before he could force it open a boomerang like device caught him. Unable to stop himself, he was forced to return where the boomerang reattached as Nano-Tech's arm, and tried to head butt the crazy scientist...Except Technus turned intangible at the last minute forcing Nano-Tech to pass through harmlessly.

"You have to wake up pretty early in the morning to catch me by surp—" Technus was cut off as the door blasted open knocking him with the door and Nano-Tech blasted him with a surge of information knocking him out.

"Sorry Technus, but my ride's here!" Nano-Tech yelled as he transformed back into Tucker Foley, and Valerie pulled him onto the hover cycle. "Hurry up Valerie! That virus I sent him will only slow him down for a couple of minutes!"

"The others are already outside! Technus had an escape shoot!" Valerie told him as she threw an ecto-grenade and blasted a hole in the ceiling.

"We are outta here!" Tucker cheered as he and his girlfriend blasted out of the mad science lab with a great burst of speed.

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, I know I made Paulina a little too bad ass this chapter, but as I read it I couldn't help think "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and Paulina's downright pissed!"**

**Originally, the group had snuck into Technus' lab and got caught at the last minute by Technus...But, then I realized that a guy like Technus would never leave his lab so unguarded that people would be able to sneak in...So, instead I decided to show off how badass Team Phantom was with their weapons and _why _they can use them against lower ghosts as well as why they can't use them against the big time ghosts like Technus.**

**I finally decided to show case a real fight and explained slightly how Tucker became Nano-Tech as well as what some of his power is...I hoped you liked it.**

**I know a lot of these characters are too injured to actually fight, but this was do or die! They either fought injured or they wind up dead...The choice was obvious.  
><strong>


	4. Arc I: A Fight for the Throne

**A/N: Sorry, I meant to have this chapter up yesterday, but I didn't finish it because I got fully finishing my outline and how I plan for this to go.**

**I know I've told many of you that I was on the fence about whether or not I'll kill any characters or if any of the deaths would be on the team...I have decided, but you'll have to wait to find out. What I will tell you is that I know the full journey of the characters all the way up to the epilogue of the story. I'm not completely sure how many chapters each destination will have, but I doubt it'll have any more than two or three.**

**DISCLAIMER: STILL DON'T OWN!**

* * *

><p><strong>A Fight for the Throne<strong>

"It sure took you guys long enough," Tucker said to his girlfriend as he held onto her waste stiffly. Danny and Sam were also riding a cycle together while Jazz was driving the other teens with a hover car while Maddie handled the other hover car. "I don't think I'd be able to last much longer."

"Sorry, but we ran into a little snag..." Valerie apologized.

"What little...Hey, this isn't the way to Vlad's portal," Tucker realized. "This is the way to the next lair: the Kingdom of Aragon!"

"Yeah, that's the little snag," Valerie informed him. "Technus didn't have enough fuel for us to make it all the way to Vlad's portal."

Tucker heaves a great sigh. "The universe hates us, doesn't it?"

"That or the writer's a jerk!"

"What?"

"Nothing!" Valerie assured him as everyone began their descent to the former middle aged kingdom. Not much had changed in four year (except for it being cleaner and indoor plumbing). "Danny thought it would be a good idea for us to stop here and see if we can change the designs enough to use less fuel...Plus it would be good to stay on an allied lair, so we can recuperate."

Tucker nodded in understanding as everyone began to descent; Jack and Maddie were extremely nervous about this...Especially Jack. He had spent his whole life thinking that ghosts were no good ecto scum and Technus' lab helped reinforced that belief. Until Danny told them the owner of this place and the ghosts under her rule were actually _good _ghosts.

That went against every principle and if he could still speak he would have argued against it as much as possible. Jack rubbed his throat disturbed that he knew he would never speak again. Although it did help him focus a bit not being able to tell anyone about his discoveries...Usually when he discovered something he would begin to blather on about it losing focus or causing his discovery to disappear. But, now that he couldn't speak out he began to see things longer than he normally got to.

Like how Danny would always spend at least ten seconds just staring at Sam the same way he stared at his Maddie. Or, how Jazz would look at Danny and Sam a little wistful and yet obviously happy for them. He noticed sadly that every couple of minutes Maddie would stare at his throat and wince as if she was the one in pain.

Heck, he even noticed that Paulina girl would mutter to herself every now and then that by the end of this trip her looks were going to be destroyed (He was actually quite good at reading lips).

It made him sad that he couldn't tell Maddie about these wonderful observations. Especially the ones he noted about the Ghost Zone like how there was no bottom or top, or even about those mysterious floating doors.

Of course if he could speak he would probably say something and go on a tangent making him forget what exactly he was talking about in the first place.

He just wished that losing his voice had improved his aim...Everyone thought it did with him hitting one of the lasers and robots back at that freaky (yet totally cool) laboratory. The truth was is that there were so many that he just _couldn't _miss, but that didn't stop the fact that he hit every single one except the one he _was _aiming at. It was a little secret he would keep to himself for right now...His pride has already been damaged enough by that crash proving his mortality, he didn't want them to think he was still a bad shot.

"It's Prince Daniel!" One of the guards of the castle called out causing Jack to raise his eyebrow and silently mouth "prince" to Maddie who looked just as confused. "Raise the gates!"

The group of humans (well...humans and part humans) landed in front of the castle with very little turbulence, and Team Phantom helped to push the vehicles within the gate while everyone else just stared at the castle in amazement.

"Prince Daniel!" Princess Dorathea (or Dora as she prefers) said quickly walking out with two servants at her heels. "Lady Samantha! Lord Tucker! Lady Valerie! Lady Jasmine!"

Dora wastes no time hugging each of them which they happily return until she notices the other people. "Oh, Daniel, who are they?"

"Oh...um...Well why I don't explain?" Danny asks and begins to explain everything that happened to them so far. Dora was horrified by their ordeal and slightly nervous that Plasmius may be causing something really bad again (he after all released Pariah Dark _twice_).

"I...I see..." Dora said breathlessly and with tears in her eyes. "All of you are welcome to stay here for the time being; we do have food that is fit for human consumption so it should be okay."

"Only for a few days," Sam told her. "Just enough to recover some of our strength and heal up a bit...Plasmius is up to something in the human world and we can't dilly dally for too long."

"Plasmius?" Maddie asked and Team Phantom jumped...They had forgotten they still had to watch what they said here.

"The Wisconsin Ghost," Danny explained shortly and Maddie nodded.

Maddie didn't understand, but something about the name "Plasmius" had stirred something in her. It was like...like when she heard about one of her old boyfriends becoming a movie star. She couldn't understand that because she had never met anyone named Plasmius and she would _never _date a ghost.

"Why did you, like, call Fenton a prince?" Star asked confused and all the nonmembers looked like they wanted to know too.

"Because Daniel won the crown from my brother, Aragon," Dora explained smiling at the memory before she noticed something about Paulina and Star. "Hm...Hey weren't you two in a beauty pageant four years ago with Prince Daniel?"

"Yes we were," Paulina and Star said together perplexed that the ghost even knew about it or why while Tucker flinched remembering how much pain Star and Paulina put him through the days following the pageant.

"I was the host in disguise," Dora explained and the two girls gasped. "When my brother Prince Aragon was still the head of the kingdom, he had me create a beauty pageant to find a human wife. You see he wanted what no other ghost had: a human wife."

"You mean we could have married a prince?" Paulina asked in disbelief and jealousy remembering how Sam won that one.

"Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted to marry him," Sam told them disgusted.

"Yes, my brother was a cruel and vindictive person who would have made you just like his own personal slave," Dora informed the two. "Anyway, when Lady Samantha had been taken by me to marry him she had caused a bit of a...well a ruckus."

"More like a disaster," snorted Tucker. "She swung from the chandelier and rode a dead pig."

"Excuse me for wanting to repulse a guy trying to marry me," Sam retorted.

"And, swinging from the chandelier is _very _fun," Dora added and her servants groaned knowing she's going to do it _again_. "But, back to my point was that eventually it came down to a fight between Prince Daniel and Aragon...Except he couldn't do it without my help."

"You don't look like much of a fighter," Dash said...She looked so dainty like Star and Paulina...Except those two _could _get quite nasty when they are really angry.

"I use this pendant to allow me to transform into a dragon," Dora explained and she showed the Dragon's Eye Amulet causing Paulina to gasp.

"But, that's the pendant Danny gave me that he said belonged to Manson!" Paulina said recognizing it and everyone turned to Danny.

"It fell off when Dad caught her with the Fenton Fisher," Danny explained and Jack looked at him surprised. "Yeah dad, you actually managed to catch something...Anyway, it was before people believed ghosts existed so I lied."

"_Anyway_," Dora emphasized. "Daniel and I defeated my brother where I locked him in the dungeons...However that next year he managed to escape and tried to reclaim the throne. I had lost the fight and went to Daniel for help; he along with Lord Tucker, Lady Samantha, Lady Valerie and Lady Jasmine came to my rescue. They defeated the resistance forces and Daniel did the only thing he could to ensure Aragon could not properly reclaim the throne..." Everyone leaned in. "...He challenged my brother to a duel! Winner gets the crown."

"My brother agreed under the terms that should he win however, Daniel and his friends shall remain here for eternity as his slaves," Dora explained.

"Dude! What if you lost?" Kwan gasped out causing Danny to rub the back of his head.

"Yeah, I didn't think that one through..."

"There's a surprise," Mr. Lancer mumbled quietly knowing how foolhardy Daniel Fenton could be.

"But, Danny won so it doesn't matter," Sam pointed out the obvious.

"Yes he did and since then Aragon has been in the dungeons wallowing in his misery," Dora explained cheerfully. "It was with that victory that Daniel claimed the crown of Aragon and his friends were properly knighted."

"Wow..." Maddie said in awe of her children.

She really should pay closer attention to them.

"Now that the story is out of the way," Danny said embarrassed. "Could you check over our injured to make sure they are properly healing as well as show us to our rooms?"

"Of course Daniel," Dora said pleasantly and she clapped her hands causing two servants to appear.

"Right this way your highness," the two said in unison with a bow and gestured for the others to follow.

"Thank you," Danny said politely as they headed inside.

Meanwhile, miles under the castle in a dingy little dungeon cell the former prince sat there lost in his own self pity. He could not believe that ghost of his magnitude had lost to a boy. He wasn't even a proper ghost! He had never felt so ashamed of himself in his entire life...Even when he was alive he was a genius who was below no one.

He held many secrets that even to this day he was sure the people of his kingdom didn't know. He was positive that Dorathea had no clue the Dragon's Eye Amulet was born from their guardian dragon mixed with black magic. For the amulets to work they needed two different beings to hold them and he had given his wishy washy sister the second simply because she was too pathetic to fight back. He would never have even given his sister the thing if he thought she would revolt against him; growing up she had been taught to be seen but not heard.

He was also sure that no one in the kingdom had ever realized it was he who released the plague sixteen hundred years ago, so that he could gain power over an everlasting kingdom of the dead.

But, it proved all for naught when his sister brought that blasted girl into his kingdom! Yes, the boy was a thorn in his side, but he would have done nothing if not for his sister's stupidity the boy would never had bothered him. It was also the girl who caused his sister to think for herself like she had a right too!

A woman's place was in the kitchen and a princess' was on the throne looking pretty. They had no right trying to actually rule! But, no that girl filled Dorathea with _modern _ideas of what woman could do...Bah! His kingdom was just fine the way it was before and now here he was trapped like a prisoner while his sister try to bring _technology _into his world.

That blasted stuff had place among _his _kingdom, but he had lost his right to rule and even his power when the boy stole his pendant. Sure he had the standard ghost powers, but compared to other ghosts it wasn't really that powerful. All he needed was just a little power and he could defeat the ghost boy to reclaim his title.

"If only I had a little more power!" Aragon whispered bitterly. "I'd do anything for a little more power!"

"_Anything_?" A voice whispered hauntingly. "Even make me your master?"

"Who is there? I demand you show yourself!" Aragon demanded and the figure floated into the light.

"I see your imprisonment has yet to humble you Aragon," Plasmius said smirking.

"That's Prince Aragon!"

"Not since your defeat."

"I'll get him back! I just need a little more power!"

"Which leads me back to my question," Plasmius said with a vicious smile. "Would you make me your master for that bit of power?"

"...Yes..." Aragon agreed readily.

"Very good," Plasmius said pleased as he handed a piece of parchment and quill to Aragon. "Then write a letter to your little resistance force to have them prepare for battle in three day's time when you escape from your imprisonment."

"Why three days?" Aragon asked, but Plasmius blasted Aragon back with a powerful ecto-blast.

"From now on you shall call me 'master', do you understand Aragon?" Aragon nodded his head as he weakly sat back up.

"Why three days, master?" Aragon asked feeling disgusted with himself, but he dared not fight Plasmius for even he knows the power he has.

"They would have been ready today when I ensured that you Daniel's group would stop here after destroying most of Technus' fuel supply, but your little force would listen to no one but you," Plasmius spat. "Now Daniel has time to recuperate from his sudden onslaught, but luckily you have time to practice."

"Practice what master?" Plasmius grinned as he handed an amulet to Aragon and the former prince looked at in shock. "This is—!"

"Quite," Plasmius interrupted. "I understand that you know how to use it, so use these three days to practice."

"Thank you master!" Aragon actually said sincerely, but Plasmius only answer was to disappear away...

Danny sighed as he looked at the kingdom three days later from his bedroom; it was apparently Aragon's bedroom before he took the king and queen's room fifteen hundred years ago. As the prince it was only right that he would stay in the prince's room...Although his parents were not happy to discover that Sam was staying with him.

He thought about his beautiful girlfriend with a small smile...They had consummated their relationship in this very room last summer when his parents thought he, Jazz, Tucker, Valerie and Sam had gone camping for the weekend. The truth was that they had come here for his official coronation as prince since it was a two day ceremony.

Originally the two had planned to wait, but their hormones had gotten the better of them when they saw each other in their magnificent clothes reminded each other how attractive they were to each other. The two never regretted their decision no matter what television tries to tell them, and it wasn't like they were able to do it very often. These past two nights had been the third time they've done it at all.

Danny smiled as he put on his faux fur coat and his golden crown...Tonight was the last night they'll be staying here. This morning Tucker and Valerie reported that they managed to basically turn their hover cars and hover cycles into a makeshift Specter Speeder, so they'll all be able to travel together and consuming very little gas. His own parents helped build the two teens rebuild it since they had helped Valerie build the cycles and cars at Technus' (they were very impressed with Tucker's blueprints and Valerie's skills).

As far as injuries went Valerie was able to take off her bandages and luckily none of her injuries were bad enough to scar, Dash's arm was still in a sling but his body had finally stopped convulsing from the electric shocks he received at Technus', Paulina had a few scars all over her body but nothing that bad, Mr. Lancer did not improve at all with his broken leg, Maddie had to wrap her back up due to the injury she received against the mantis-bot, Jack showed no improvement, Kwan's back no longer caused him pain unless he moved too much, Jazz had finally wrapped her torso up for her broken rib and now had a nasty bruise, Star no longer suffered from dizzy spells and was beginning to regain her injury, and Sam was able to take off the bandages around her wrists since her magic caused her to heal fast.

Danny hurried to the door when he heard a knock and he smiled widely when he saw Sam standing there in a beautiful black and purple dress with her hair much like it was at the dance when they first met Dora. He leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips before stepping back slowly.

The two stared at each other half lidded and smiling softly until the heard a small cough. The two quickly turned to see one of the maids standing there blushing. "I'm sorry for interrupting your highness, but it is near time for the ball to begin."

"Thank you," Danny said politely as he took Sam's arm with his. "So, how do we look?"

"Both of you look amazing," the maid gushed girly. "Especially together!"

"We do, don't we?" Sam asked smirking as she leaned her head on Danny's shoulder and the two walked down to the elegant (well it is now that Dora remodeled it) ballroom. Upon entering they heard someone announce, "And, his Royal Highness Prince Daniel Fenton with his date, Lady Samantha", but ignored it as they sought out Tucker and Valerie.

Tucker was not surprisingly at the buffet chowing down on any piece of meat he could get his hands on much to the amusement of several ladies-in-waiting and the ire of his girlfriend. She forcibly pulled Tucker away to dance when one of them made to try and flirt with Tucker much to Danny's amusement. His growth spurt last year as well as switching up his beret for a headband and dreadlocks had ironically made him quite popular with the ladies.

It drove Valerie insane and made her feel a bit inadequate since she had cut her hair short that summer...It drove them mad for three months before Sam was able to convince Valerie to confess her feelings for the techno-geek.

It took her two more tries before Tucker stopped passing out in shock.

Out on the balcony he saw his parents sitting together drinking what he assumed was wine...He couldn't remember the last time they sat together so content. It had happened a few times growing up and it was those times that he really knew his parents truly loved each other. Right now they were content and happy to be together, and he knew that the loss of his dad's voice didn't make her love him any less. That might be the reason they were sitting there now that he thought about it...This had always been their way of comforting each other.

It wasn't hard to spot Star and Kwan dancing together in a nice slow dance, and if he was reading Kwan's lips right he was telling her how beautiful she looked tonight. That was true as even with her injuries, her orange sparkly dress still looked beautiful on her. He was also very glad Kwan was telling her this because he knew that Star believed that she was ugly now and had slowly been getting depressed the last couple of days; Star had probably one of the nicest smiles he had even seen when she was happy.

Of course she was nothing compared to Sam, but he wasn't going to tell her _that_.

At one of the tables, Paulina and Dash were sitting together...Dash obviously asked her to be his date again. Danny couldn't really tell if Paulina actually liked Dash in that way or if it was more about star quarterback going out with cheer captain...Either way he knew Dash had a mega crush on her for a while now. Danny's had to save Dash's butt several times over the year due to the blonde idiot constantly trying to fight ghosts and the likes to show off to the oblivious Paulina.

Even now as Dash tried to talk to Paulina (and he was even talking about how good she looks), Paulina ignored him to watch Star. Dash didn't seem to bothered though when he saw who she was looking at...Danny was amazed at how close the two were. He really shouldn't be though when he realized the only time the two weren't together was when Kitty had possessed her.

Mr. Lancer was at another table sitting alone as usual, and staring warily at the ghosts. The poor teacher would never get used to being around a bunch of ghosts without them attacking them. Even his own parents had grown used to it after seeing how easily he and Jazz talked to them.

Speaking of Jazz she was in a corner dressed up, but reading a book. Only Jazz would go to a ball, get dressed up and spend the night reading. It's not like she hasn't had offers to dance either since about every twenty seconds another lord would propose a dance only to be shot down.

Weirdo.

"Excuse me lords and ladies," Dora's minister spoke up. "But, it is now time for the prince and princess' dance."

Star pouted as she and Kwan walked over to Dash and Paulina while Danny and Sam walked to the center of the dance floor. Dora did the same thing with some ghost he had never seen before, but was obviously a lord. Dash was practically seething in jealousy over them and Paulina was having a hard time trying to hide her own much to Sam's pleasure.

A soft slow melody began to play and through many dance lessons, the four began to dance in perfect synch. They never touched or bumped despite how close they grew together; Sam was enjoying being in Danny's arms as usual. She promised she would reward him quite well tonight...She was glad for the chance and the small break they had here. This whole trip had been far too stressful for even her tastes.

The music began to fade and Danny took it as his cue. Slowly, he leaned in for one more kiss...

Only to jump back as someone screamed and he saw Dorathea lying on the floor as her date pulled a sword out of her. It wouldn't kill her, but it was the act that spoke volumes. Before anyone could get their bearings the right wall exploded and an army of black knights came marching in. "Excuse me, but it seems I lost my invitation," Aragon told them smirking at the look of horror and shock on everyone's faces. "And, I brought some guests with me."

"Aragon!" Danny and Sam gasped together as the knights pulled out their swords, bows and arrows, and axes.

"Oh if it isn't _Prince _Daniel and _Lady _Samantha," Aragon spat out in disdain. "I have come to reclaim my throne!"

"In case you've forgotten Aragon! You no longer have your pendant!" Danny told him as he held up Aragon's former Dragon's Eye Amulet. Unlike Dora's, Aragon's had been damaged in his last fight against Danny before the ghost boy took it away.

"Hah! I don't need that cheap old trinket when I have this!" Aragon told him holding a new amulet up.

"That's—!"

"I knew you would recognize it," Aragon sneered at Sam. "_She _made it after all."

"Sam what is—"

"No time to explain Danny, but I'll handle him this time."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Danny nodded and before anything could be done Dora transformed into a dragon; she used her great power to send all of the forces that broke in right back outside.

"You will not get in my way Dorathea!" Aragon snarled. "_Torpesco!_"

Everyone could only watch in horror as Dora was transformed to stone. "Dora!" Team Phantom cried out in horror followed by everyone else as Aragon laughed merrily at their misery.

"You'll pay for that Aragon!" Sam snarled and Danny could practically feel the anger rolling off her. He knew it was time to go if he didn't want to get caught in the battle.

"For Princess Dorathea!" Danny roared out as he charged outside to the enemy forces and a second later everyone followed him out...Team Phantom and the denizens of the kingdom of Aragon knew that Sam could hold her own while the rest decided they couldn't fight someone this powerful.

Kwan realized this in the battle against Technus when Tucker had somehow managed to survive on his own when a minute before they were losing badly. He figured these guys had a secret and that they were trying to keep it so it would best to just get out of the way.

As soon as the room cleared, Sam turned Aragon angrily. "Where did you get that?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Aragon asked laughing maniacally and Sam grit her teeth in anger.

"Fine! Don't tell me! It won't matter when I take it from you!" Sam snarled as her body began to glow with magic. "_Transforme_!"

Sam's clothes suddenly changed as she now wore a low top black shirt where the upper part and arms was covered in fishnets which went over long purple gloves. She now wore a black skirt with purple stocking and black boots. Her hair had grown long as a droopy witch's hat appeared on her head.

She was now Spell Caster.

Outside Danny was rushing through the enemy forces with a vicious ferocity that heartened the knights that the new prince was a true warrior, and so they charged in cutting down the black knights who fought just as viciously.

Paulina was slicing at them once again protecting Star as much as possible as Dash shot the old fashion knights.

"Got one!" Kwan cheered as he shot one of the knights down...He had spent the last few days training with his weapon just like everyone else. Jack shot a black knight point blank with the bazooka when one nearly sliced off Maddie's head which Maddie returned a favor when she shot one that tried to attack Jack from behind.

"AAAAH!" Mr. Lancer cried out as a black knight caught a rope around his throat and was currently strangling him over a tree.

"Mr. Lancer!" Valerie yelled in shock and shot her rifle at the black knight hitting him point blank while Tucker blasted around four knights with an ecto-shot. Jazz was jumping around the place as she threw her bladed shield across the field to cut them down, but she stumbled when an arrow pierced her shoulder.

"JAZZ!" Danny snarled and he rushed in swiping the battlefield with the scythe. "Stay away from my sister!"

The black knights didn't listen to him though as they released a giant volley of arrows on to the field; Danny threw the scythe causing them to cut down a bunch, but it didn't stop him from being riddled with arrows all over his arms and legs.

"PRINCE DANIEL!" The denizens called out in agony as they watched their prince go down.

"Danny!" Jazz cried out pulling the arrow out of her shoulder, but the distraction was all the black knights needed to put an axe in her back. They would have severed the girls spine had Valerie not shot a bullet at the last second causing it to veer off the side a little.

Either way Danny and Jazz Fenton were down.

"Kids!" Maddie screamed in horror and Jack's eyes widened as if in pain.

Jack was _pissed_! With a silent battle cry he ran into the battlefield shooting his bazooka like a mad man not caring if he hit or not as he barreled through the ghosts in the way of his children. He hit one particular black knight clean across the field and stole his axe...With a silent roar he swung viciously knocking them a group out of the way. Luckily he was covered by Danny and Dora's own knights shooting arrows off for any that was beyond the big man's reach.

"Star!" Paulina cried as she was knocked back by a knight, her ecto-sword flying out her grip as a black knight with an axe swung it down on the one eyed girl. Star closed her eye anticipating more pain and was horrified when blood splattered face.

It took a second for her to realize she wasn't in pain.

Cautiously she opened her eye to see a horrific sight...Dash was standing over with his broken arm cut clean off almost at the shoulder. She screamed out in shock and Paulina's eyes widened uncomprehendingly. "Nice try you jackass," Dash grumbled out his brain not yet comprehending the pain as he headbutted the black knight causing him to stumble back.

Dash didn't leave it at that as he grabbed Paulina's sword with his one arm and lobbed the ghost's head clean off before he collapsed. "DASH!" Paulina screeched in shock as she ran over to the fallen football player. "SOMEONE HELP!"

Tucker rushed over to the boy shooting anyone who got away as he ignored the slice that went through his leg, and he gasped in horror at his bully. Unable to really do anything else, he ripped his shirt in pieces and created a makeshift bandage until he could get properly treated.

Star was watching their backs as best she could with the battle going on as she fired her hand gun, but her aim was still poor and required more practice. Luckily, some of the good knights appeared and began to help the battle.

"Looks like Fenton was right about bringing our weapons everywhere we went!" Kwan grunted as he stood back to back with Valerie as they fired.

"He usually is!" Valerie grunted...This fight was really going nowhere since killing ghosts doesn't exactly work. In truth, only they as humans was really getting hurt in this fight while the rest were just a little banged up, but could get back up no problem.

It would take something momentous to win this fight...And, that's when the black knights suddenly stopped...

A few moments before Spell Caster and Aragon stood there watching the other with slit eyes; they prepared for the others attacks with dignity, grace and anger. "_Incindie_!" Aragon roared causing a huge blast of fire to shoot at Spell Caster, but she just rolled to the side.

"_Glacie Cuspis_!" Spell Caster roared and spikes of ices blasted at the prince who just used another powerful fire spell to melt them not realizing it was trap while Spell Caster charged forward with a glove of solid rock around her fist...He took the blow right to the face, but recovered with a back flip as he used a speed spell to instantly reappear in her face.

Before Spell Caster could incant he used an animation spell to cause the drapes to wrap around her neck, choking her. Spell Caster was unable to speak, but luckily she had said an incantation at the last second making a knife fly to her where she cut the drapes. Aragon wasn't bothered as he transfigured the knife into a snake that nearly bit her arm off if Spell Caster hadn't thrown it at Aragon who lazily transformed it into a whip.

She dodged the weapon however and used a fire spell around her legs that when she kicked the prince he was burned across the face, but she could not savor her victory as spikes rose from the ground impaling her arms. She pulled them out and instantly began healing thanks to her own magical protection as she caused the water around her to transform into giant pillars to strike him down, but Aragon used a teleportation spell to appear on top of Dora's dragon's head.

"Get off her!" Spell Caster demanded but Aragon just smirked as his hands glowed white.

"_Vitae_!" Aragon roared and the stone dragon of Princess Dorathea suddenly came to life under his command. The dragon swung her tail at Spell Caster, but she was able to use an earth spell to dig a hole before jumping out. Spell Caster was instantly forced to roll away though when the dragon released a burst of stone fire.

"That's right! Run little girl!" Aragon laughed as he shot lightning bolts at the girl while his sister blasted stone fire and tried to crush her.

"I! AM! NOT! A! LITTLE! GIRL!" Spell Caster roared angrily as she jumped onto Dora's tail and raced up the dragon using her magic to stay attached, and nimbly dodged the burst of fire Aragon blasted her with. He was about to scream an incantation when she punched him in the stomach not even bothering to say a spell and grabbed onto his amulet.

"_Reverso Maxum!_" Spell Caster screamed and at first nothing to seem to happen until the entire kingdom shook at its very core.

"What did you do?" Aragon asked weakly as Spell Caster ripped the amulet off him with an angry tug.

"_Reverso Maxum _is one of _her _more powerful spells that I could only hope to do holding the Amulet of Enchantments," Spell Caster explained grinning proudly. "It reverses all of the spells you have recently done like say the spell you used to increase your strength and the chain of the amulet."

"Or, turning your sister to stone," Dragon Dora spoke grabbing her brother and bringing him to her menacingly. Aragon could only gulp as Dora burned him alive...well as alive as a ghost is anyway before Spell Caster muttered an incantation that caused powerful bindings to appear around him.

"Don't even bother trying to break those things," Spell Caster told him smiling as she transformed back into Sam. "Tucker invented them...Completely ghost _and _magic proof."

"You'll pay for this!" Aragon screamed as two of Dora's knights came to take him away. "You'll rue the day you faced Prince Aragon!"

"What's going on?" Dora asked a knight as she transformed back. "Why has the battle stopped?"

"We don't know princess," the knight said. "They just stopped all of the sudden."

"Could you bring one to me?" Sam asked with a peculiar look on her face. "I get the feeling I might know why..."

Sam examined the black knight for a couple minutes before she smirked. "It seems your stupid brother used an animation spell to let the armors move freely around as well as a powerful intangibility spell to allow the armors to turn intangible should the ghost inside leave," Sam explained smiling. "Now because the spell was reversed it instead causes the armor to freeze and become completely tangible should the ghost be inside...Aragon's troops are stuck inside the armor!"

Dora giggled as the knights laughed loudly at that before one came running in from the main battlefield and he didn't look happy. "Princess! Sir Dashiel Baxter has suffered from an extremely bad injury!"

"Dash?" Sam gasped. "What happened?"

"His arm was cut off!" The knight said shaking. "Lord Tucker and Lady Valerie are saying that they could make a robotic one for him, but they would have to take apart your vehicle."

"What does Danny have to say about this?"

"Prince Daniel and Lady Jasmine are currently unconscious from too many arrow wounds—"

"WHAT?" Sam cried out in shock.

"They aren't in any true danger...Prince Daniel's half-ghost body has already began to heal him and Lady Jasmine's telekinetic barrier protected them from the arrows going to deep. There was just far too many at once for their minds to handle from what I understand." Sam sighed in relief. "But, Lady Samantha should Lord Tucker and Lady Valerie tear apart your machine?"

"I...How bad is it?" Sam asked.

"There is a chance he will bleed to death if we leave him like this," the knight answered truthfully.

"Then tell them to tear apart and get fixing him."

"Yes ma'am."

"But, Lady Samantha, how will you get home?" Dora asked her friend, but Sam shook her head.

"I dunno, but right Dash's life is more important," Sam said thinking that things are only going from bad to worse...

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><p><strong>AN2: So a bit of Danny x Sam and some other couples.**

**I hope I didn't bother any of you by the idea that Danny and Sam have already had sex, but really they are a couple of superheroes who almost die all the time while being deeply in love...In all honesty, I can't see them waiting it out.**

**This was my first magical battle and I tried to be variant, but I hoped you noticed the limitation I put on Sam with her powers compared Aragon...That is part of her origin that I will eventually explain.**

**Who _she _is will remain a mystery, but I will be explaining the Amulet of Enchantments next chapter as the bunch are healed up as well as the next destination is decided.  
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	5. Arc I: Recovery

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone for their reviews as well as remind everyone that if enough people like this story I plan to write a prequel, so be sure to continue reviewing.**

**I have put a poll up on my profile for everyone to vote on if I should up the rating to "M" be sure to vote.  
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**DISCLAIMER: STILL DON'T OWN!**

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><p><strong>Recovering<strong>

"Dash! Dash can you hear me?" Valerie asked out on the battlefield, but the football player was out for the count.

"Valerie, let them take Dash up to the castle...We need to get to work on the arm," Tucker told her receiving the message from Sam. "Sam says to do it."

"Alright," Valerie said as she turned sadly from her former friend as well as refused to look at the wailing Paulina being comforted by Star. Valerie couldn't help but feel jealous of the way Paulina seemed to care more about everyone in the A-list than she did herself. She had been abandoned readily and without hesitation and it _still _stung.

On the other hand, it at least showed Paulina seemed to have matured a bit over the last four years...She didn't think it was possible. To be honest, she blamed Danny for that; it had been obvious since they were freshmen that Paulina wanted to catch his eye. She never had nor will she be able to, but Paulina seemed to care about others a bit more after Danny had finally called her pathetic the summer before junior year...He had grown tired of her attitude and selfishness.

When school started that year, Paulina had changed. It was minuscule that most people wouldn't really notice, but now that she was thinking about it, it was obvious. She can't for instance remember the last time Paulina actually made fun of Sam or forced someone else to do her homework.

Shaking her head, she ceased her thoughts and turned to the task at hand...Dismantling the Specter Speeder 2.0. She couldn't help but sigh at this; all that hard work and it was for naught. She cursed the former prince for his arrogance and his daring for attacking her friends. She also cursed Team Phantom because it was as Danny said, the ghosts were getting stronger. Had they been this strong four years ago, she'd probably be dead her first night out.

Meanwhile, Star had just returned from the kitchen with a cup of hot chocolate for Paulina who was sitting in front of the Hospital Wing doors shaking like a leaf...Whenever Paulina was afraid or worried a cup of hot chocolate had always been the trick. "Thanks Sarah," Paulina mumbled holding the cup lovingly.

Star frowned at the use of her real name; before this trip Paulina had only used her name when she took a nasty fall in cheerleading practice back in middle school. She didn't break anything, but got a pretty nasty bruise...Since then Star had come to associate her real name being associated with bad news. It was quite painful watching Paulina sipping her hot cocoa like it was her only saving grace in this situation; she found it ironic that she was taking this the hardest when she was the one who scoffed the most at the danger.

'_Maybe that karma stuff is actually real?_' Star mused bitterly and decided if it was real than karma was a sick bastard.

"It's not fair," Paulina said thickly. "Dash shouldn't be hurt like this...Not when I was the one who screwed up!"

"It's not your fau—"

"BULL!" Paulina screamed furiously and threw her cup down the hall. "_I_ was the one who convinced you to go on this trip when you told me you didn't want to! _I _was the one wanted to go on this trip just to see Danny Phantom! And,_ I _was the one who tripped and fell making Dash jump in fron—"

With a resounding smack, Paulina fell to the ground staring up at Sam in disbelief and anger. "Manson, how da—"

"SHUT UP!" Sam ordered and Paulina fell silent. "Get over yourself Paulina! You might think you're the center of the universe, but guess what? You're not! Everybody decided to come on this trip for their own reasons! Unless you have some great mind control power than you didn't make anyone do anything! God, can you be any more self centered? Get! Over! Yourself!"

Before Paulina could retort, Sam slammed the Hospital Wing doors as she tearfully looked at her boyfriend who had yet to awaken along with Jazz. She looked sadly at Kwan who was hunched over his best friend whispering in silent disbelief. Her eyes finally fell on Maddie and Jack who were watching their children with such pained expressions that she felt almost like an intruder, but they silently beckoned her over. She did so fearfully, but her fears of rejection was for nothing when they enveloped her in a powerful hug as Maddie repetitiously repeated how glad she was that Sam was okay.

An hour later, a subdued Paulina opened the door telling them that Valerie and Tucker were here. "Thank you," Sam told her.

"It's...It's alright," Paulina said avoiding her eyes making Sam feel guilty.

"Look Paulina, I'm sorry...I shouldn't have snapped like that," Sam apologized. "I...I wanted to just tell you it wasn't your fault, but with Danny out cold like this I guess I let all of my anger and hurt out on you."

"It's okay...I was doing the same thing to Sarah when you yelled at me," Paulina told her quietly and Sam held out her hand.

"Truce?"

"Truce." The two shook hands before stepping out of the way to let the technological geniuses into the room.

"I don't think you two will want to be in here while we do this," Tucker told them. "It's going to be painful and Dash will probably scream a lot."

Paulina's face blanched at the mere thought of hearing Dash's wails of pain. She made to step out of the room before she suddenly stopped and ran to Dash's bed. "Get well soon," Paulina murmured as she kissed the jock's cheek.

As soon as Sam and Paulina stepped out of the room, Jack and Maddie were on their feet ready to help. "I need you two to hold him down," Tucker told them grimly. "If he thrashes around too much it could cause us to connect the wrong nerves leaving this fake arm impossible to put on."

Jack grabbed the feet while Maddie grabbed the boy's other shoulder. "Ready Tuck?" Valerie asked.

"Ready." Tucker held the base of the arm up to Dash's missing arm and Valerie carefully grabbed a wire and connected it to a nerve.

"!" Dash screamed so loudly the entire castle heard, but Valerie didn't let it dissuade her as she continued the process.

"Almost there," Valerie mumbled shaking. "Just a little more..."

Down in the dungeons, Sam was standing over Aragon with contempt on her face...She had parted ways with Paulina after leaving the Hospital Wing. "Where did you get this?" Sam demanded holding out the Amulet of Enchantments, but the former prince remained as tight lipped as ever.

"You are pathetic," Aragon spat. "If you were half the witch _she_ was, you could simply _force _the answer out of me."

"If I was half the witch _she _was then I would have obliterated you already!" Sam told him with disdain.

"You can't kill a ghost foolish child!" Aragon retorted.

"Oh, you think so, do you? _She _had killed _thousands _of ghosts in her time!" Sam told him with an evil smirk.

"Ah...But, you don't have the power to do that," Aragon said with a self satisfied smile.

"No, but Danny does!"

"Oh, your little lover? From what I heard he was still out cold and not waking up!"

"_Incindie!_" Sam snarled burning the former prince's face. "Don't you dare say that again, Aragon! Danny _will _wake up! I know it!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, wench." Sam casted a fire spell upon him one more time in anger before stomping away and slamming the dungeon door shut.

"You did very well, Aragon," Plasmius said appearing out of thin air.

"But, I lost master."

"I never expected you to win...In fact I knew you wouldn't," Plasmius told Aragon. "No, I _counted _on you losing that fight and the Amulet along the way."

"I don't understand master."

"And, that is why you are not a king...For you see that Amulet is hampering a key point to my plan, but if Dorathea does as I expect her to than I am sure it will be destroyed soon."

"Why are you telling me this master?" Aragon asked and Plasmius smirked.

"Well, I thought you might want to know what you are about to die for."

"Wh-What?" Aragon squeaked fearfully causing Plasmius' smirk to widen. "But, I'm a ghost! I _can't _die!"

"What did you think Samantha was lying? Bluffing? No, you foolish little ghost it is quite easy to kill a ghost if you know how," Plasmius said pleasantly. "Ghosts such as yourselves are nothing more than spirits filled with ectoplasm to keep from moving on...What do you think would happen if I removed all that ectoplasm?"

"I'd...I'd have to pass on?"

"Exactly!" Plasmius laughed at Aragon's horrified face. "Of course it takes a power being to remove or destroy a ghost's ectoplasm, but unfortunately for you I am quite capable."

"M-Master! Please! I beg of y—" Aragon never got to finish his sentence as Plasmius placed his hand on Aragon's head and seemed to absorb all of the former prince's being into him.

That was the last of Aragon anyone ever saw leaving nothing but a robe behind.

"Hmm...He truly was a weak ghost," Plasmius mused to himself. "That method can only kill lower ranking ghosts like the Box Ghost, for him to be absorbed so easily spoke miles of his worthlessness."

Plasmius laughed to himself as he teleported away...

Danny couldn't understand where he was or why he was here; all he could see was darkness around him. He couldn't remember anything that happened before he got here...

"DANNY!" Someone cried out. It sounded familiar, but he could not place it.

"WHO'S THERE?"

"DANNY!" The voice called again, but stronger this time.

She sounded frantic and worried, but there was nothing he could do to help her. It hurt, but she was the one who broke the vase. It wasn't his idea to play catch in the house because they couldn't go to the park.

He was only four for Pete's sake!

"Danny, you can't tell mommy!" A six year old Jazz said frantically. "She'll...She'll be so mad at me!"

"But—"

"Promise you won't tell mommy!" Jazz demanded and Danny stepped back unsure if Jazz would bully him again. As far back as he could remember, Jazz had always bullied him to do things he didn't want to do. Mommy and daddy didn't believe him of course since she was in first grade and always doing well...Not like him who still had problems with albapet.

She always bragged about it too and used it to get out of chores, so he would have to do them. She got to play in their parents' lab too which was unfair because he didn't! Daddy would tell him that Jazzy-pants was such a good girl that it was okay unlike him who was so clumsy he'd break everything he touched.

He wasn't jealous though because sometimes he'd sneak in there and just mess with some stuff for fun...He hadn't been caught yet!

And, yet here was his sissie telling him to promise when he _knows _he should tell mommy, but if he did his mommy wouldn't believe him anyway and Jazz would break his toy rocket again!

"I pwomise," Danny muttered.

"Cross your heart?"

"Cwoss my heawt."

"Thank you Danny!" Jazz hugged him merrily and raced down the stairs. "MOMMY! SOMEONE BROKE THE VASE FROM GRANDMA!"

"WHAT?" He heard his mommy yell and before he could run away his mommy was up the stairs staring at the broken vase around him. "Did you do this Danny?"

Danny shook his head. "Then who did?" Maddie asked and Danny opened his mouth, but he saw Jazz behind mommy silently crossing her heart.

"I dunno..." Danny mumbled.

"Don't lie to me, Danny," Maddie said noticing how he wouldn't look her in the eye. "Who broke the vase?"

Danny just shook his head much to Maddie's chagrin. "Fine, if you won't tell me than you can go to your room for the rest of the day and no dessert!"

Danny felt tears sting his eyes as he ran into his room ignoring Jazz asking if she could have his share and Maddie's "of course sweetie".

"Wow, I do not remembering being this much of a brat," a twenty year old Jazz said causing the eighteen year old Danny to jump as well as make the memory fade away.

"Course you don't," Danny said angry. "You liked you were oh so perfect back then! Always getting in trouble and making me feel stupid!"

"I'm sorry..." Jazz apologized with tears in her eyes and Danny patted her back.

"It's alright...That was years and years ago; you've more than made up for it by now!"

"Oh Danny!" Jazz hugged her little brother tightly and Danny returned it before looking at the infinite darkness.

"Where are we anyway?"

"Your mind...I thought it would be obvious with how empty it is." Jazz grinned at Danny's scowl.

"Hardy har har, you are _so _funny Jazz," Danny said sarcastically.

"Thank you." Jazz's face grew serious. "But, seriously this darkness is because you are in a coma...Well, I am too but only because I came in here to find you."

"So...How do I wake up?" Danny asked and suddenly he was enveloped in a bright light.

"Like that," Jazz told him from her own bed.

"Danny!" Sam cried out in surprise at how sudden his waking was.

"Morning Sam," Danny said casually with a yawn that made Sam smile a little.

"More like evening," Jazz said looking outside.

"Wow, we've been out of it all day?" Danny asked amazed.

"No...You've been out of it for two days," Sam told him with tears in her eyes. "I...No was sure if you would ever wake up! Don't scare me like that again!"

"Oh, don't cry Sam," Danny pleaded holding her comfortingly as she soaked his shirt. "But, you can think Jazz for waking me up...She went inside my head to find me."

"Thanks Jazz." The two girls grinned at each other. "Although I have to wonder what took you so long since most of it had to be empty space..."

Danny rolled his eyes at her, but frowned when he saw Dash's arm as the boy snoozed opposite of him. "Sam, what happened to Dash?"

Sam winced and for the first time wondered if Danny would disagree with her decision as she explained the decision. Danny assured her that he not only was okay with it, but was glad that Dash had managed to adapt the situation.

"But, how are we going to leave Danny if the Speeder is gone?" Jazz asked worried.

"I think I might have an idea, but first..." Danny turned to his girlfriend critically. "...Do you want to explain what that thing Aragon had was that had you so riled up?"

"This is the Amulet of Enchantments," Sam explained holding up a silver amulet with a five pointed star carved onto it. "It's another one of _her _artifacts...With this _she _could increase the power of her spells, but it is so powerful that even non-magics can cast spells with it. I'm holding onto it until I can seal it up somewhere."

"Why not use it?" Jazz asked. "You'd be a lot more powerful wouldn't you?"

"I would, but it could cause _her _to awaken," Sam explained and Danny shuddered.

The last time _she _awakened, he had nearly died!

"Where did Aragon get that from anyway?" Danny asked.

"He wouldn't say."

"Maybe I should go 'talk' to him..."

"You can't."

"Why not?"

"He's dead." Danny and Jazz gasped in shock.

"W-Who?" Jazz stuttered.

"We don' know," Sam said frowning. "Aragon isn't really that powerful of a ghost without enhancements...D-Class at the very best, so he's particularly easy to kill. Anyone could have done it really although it was most likely the person who gave him the amulet..."

"Plasmius," Danny growled. "He probably caused this to make things worse."

"That does sound like him," Jazz muttered bitterly.

"Well we'll deal with him when he shows his face, but for now I'm getting more sleep..." Danny mumbled tiredly.

"Move over Danny," Sam whispered and Danny did so without hesitation...Talking to Dora could wait until tomorrow...

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><p><strong>AN2: I didn't put Danny's mindscape into italics like most people do to add confusion to what was happening to him as well as the fact that I felt the italics took away from the end transition as well as transition into his memories, so don't ask for me to change it.**

**_She _will remain a mystery for several more chapters...The only thing I can tell you about _her _is that she important to the plot and also extremely powerful.**


	6. Arc I: The Broken Box

**A/N: Sorry about this being late...I had planned on having this up yesterday, but about halfway through I lost my muse (it should be easy to tell where I struggled).**

**Remember to vote on the poll about whether I should up the rating...I'm keeping it up for one or two chapters.**

**DISCLAIMER: DANNY PHANTOM IS NOT MINE...WHICH IS SO DAMN UNFAIR YO!**

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><p><strong>The Broken Box<strong>

"Good morning sweetie," Maddie said as she hugged her son with tears in her eyes the next morning.

"Morning mom, morning dad," Danny said and his father smiled at him. "Or, at least I hope its morning..."

"Yes, yes it is," Maddie assured him. "Jazz woke up earlier and told us you two woke up last night...You really should have told us!"

"Sh!" Paulina shushed from her seat next to Dash as she watched the boy sleep steadily...If what Manson told her was true than they most likely would be leaving today and she wanted Dash to rest up as much as he could. It was the same with Star and was the reason that she turned off her alarm in their room.

She couldn't wait to leave the Ghost Zone...She'll never scoff at danger ever again after this.

"Sorry," Maddie apologized quietly before turning to Danny. "Sam told us you might have a plan to get us out of here?"

"Yeah, but I need to talk to Dora first."

"No, you need to eat breakfast first," Sam told him walking in with a bunch of fruit, and as if agreeing with her, his stomach grumbled.

"Sam he needs a real breakfast," Tucker scolded her holding a plate of bacon and eggs. "Here dude I got you real food."

"Fruit _is _real food!" Sam whispered back harshly causing Tucker to roll his eyes.

"Sam, he's a guy and needs meat!"

"Guys eat fruit all the time!"

"Not real men!"

"Actually Tuck both soun—"

"NOT NOW DANNY!" The two screamed at him causing Danny to sigh in exasperation, but was glad that Paulina took the food and gave him both...She told the two in no uncertain terms if they shout again she was kicking them out. It was surprising to see Sam apologize and even talk civilly with the Latino and he wondered what else went on while he was asleep.

Right now though he just went into his own personal feeding frenzy...He was starving!" Danny, chew your food," Maddie scolded and Danny slowed down a bit.

After Danny finished eating Maddie asked a question that had been bugging her since seeing her son. "Danny, why didn't you have any deep wounds despite the amount of arrows you were hit with?"

"Jazz's shield has a basic force field," Tucker explained for his best friend. "It's not really that powerful and can't stop the attack completely, but it pretty much stops any serious injury. I had originally designed it to be more powerful, but the generator was too thick for the shield."

"Can you make any more?" Maddie asked hopeful, but Tucker shook his head.

"Valerie and I needed very specific parts for it to work and we don't have any of them." Maddie sighed in disappointment as Danny stretched and got up.

"And, where are you going?" Sam asked with her hands on her hips.

"I told you I need to talk to Dora, and I think it's about time we get going don't you?"

"I wouldn't mind one more night here..." Paulina mumbled but Danny ignored her as he walked purposely out the doors and his ghost sense went off. He ignored it like he had been doing since he got here...There had been so many ghosts around that it was pretty useless right now.

"Danny, maybe we should wait—"

"No Sam," Danny said tight voiced and instantly the Goth girl shut up...Maddie was amazed at her son. She couldn't help but wonder when her clumsy, naïve son became such a great leader type. Since landing in this place he had taken complete charge, and even though she knew the other teenagers outside of Danny's friends didn't care for him they still listened. Something had changed when they came to this place...It was like Danny and his friends were super heroes or something the way they could fight.

She'd never forget the fight with the giant robots and how they conquered them like it was an everyday thing. She doubts they'd even be alive right now if they hadn't come along...It was her daughter who patched them up after all.

Which makes her wonder exactly when this happened and how had she never noticed?

Danny continued his walk out and went where he was sure Dora would be: the throne room. Sure enough, Dora was sitting on her throne obviously lost in thought when Danny cleared his throat. "Oh Daniel!" Dora squeaked out in surprise. "I didn't know you had already awakened!"

"Just woke up."

"Well that's good...I'm glad to hear it and I'm sure our people will be happy to hear this as well." Danny still felt weird at the idea he had an entire kingdom in the Ghost Zone. "But, more importantly I had something to discuss with you."

"Me too," Danny informed her.

"Well mine involves how to help you leave," Dora said importantly.

"Me too."

"I/You could use my/your dragon form to fly you/us away," Dora and Danny said in unison before looking at each other, and bursting out laughing.

"Looks like we had the same idea." Danny grinned. "So, you can take us to Vlad's portal?"

"No, I can't," Dora told him and Danny looked disappointed. "I can only take you as far as the next lair...If I go any further now that I'm in line for the throne instead of Aragon it could lead to a war."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want that," Danny said seriously trying to remember what lair was closest to the Kingdom before it came to him. "The next lair is Pandora's isn't it?"

"Yes...I've heard you made allies with her too," Dora said smiling. "Lady Pandora has been an ally since Aragon was removed from power."

"With the amount of power she has, that can only be a good thing," Danny said happy that his kingdom couldn't be pushed around that easily...No doubt if Pandora had caught wind of Aragon's attempt at a coup d'état she would have been here in a heartbeat.

"Yes, the Kingdom of Aragon has benefited much from our alliance."

"Speaking of that...Isn't it about time you renamed the Kingdom?" Danny held up his hand as Dora opened her mouth. "Yes, I know that the Kingdom isn't named after Aragon, but rather that is the name of all the kings before him. However, I think that since you are trying to bring the place out of the Dark Ages, it would benefit more for a new name to show a fresh start."

"I know, I know." Dora sighed...They have had this conversation many times. "I've told you before Daniel that I don't want the Kingdom to be renamed until I become queen, and I don't want to be queen until I'm sure the people would be happy with my rule."

Danny rolled his eyes but refrained from saying anything more knowing it would be like talking to a brick wall, and instead changed the topic back to his leave. "So, I was thinking we could go after lunch that way everyone will be awake and not hungry."

"Good idea," Dora agreed.

The rest of the morning Danny spent it once more making love to Sam...After she came so close to losing him she needed to feel his arms around her naked form to remind her that he was still here. She needed and craved the closeness that only this primal act could give her. It was difficult for her to even sleep in this same bed those two days when she fretted over Danny never waking...But, now with their great intimacy she felt calm and relaxed.

Lunch was a quiet affair...Everyone knew they would be leaving after this, and tried to delay as much as possible. The truth was that other than Aragon's attack, this has been quite the safe haven for them. Now they were leaving to go where more likely than not they'll be attacked and hurt again; Danny knew they had to move on though because Plasmius was obviously planning something and dilly-dallying will do nothing but give the fruit loop a bigger advantage. He also knew that the longer they stayed somewhere the easier the target they were...Right now moving from lair to lair might make it seem easier to attack them, but in truth it put anyone against them at a disadvantage since they'd have to spread their resources out rather than group them.

No, they definitely needed to keep moving.

Dash sighed as he cleaned up his room...He packed his football jacket into his pack. He didn't feel right wearing it when he knew he could no longer be part of the team. His artificial arm was his throwing arm and there's no way it would be legal for him to have it during games. What bothered him even more was that he knew that any hope for a relationship with Paulina outside of "social events" went pretty much down the drain...She only tolerated him because he was captain of the football team.

Now look at him...A fake arm, no longer a football player and no girlfriend; when did he become a loser? If this was that karma stuff Kwan was always going on about he swore he would never take it lightly again.

"Are you ready Dash?" Kwan asked from the doorway and the former jock nodded his head. "How's the arm?"

"I'm getting used to it." Dash shrugged. "Foley said I should be a bit stronger now with the ecto-energy or whatever."

"At least there's a bright side, right?" Dash didn't answer just sitting on the fountain in the courtyard.

Paulina and Star came down after...Paulina was smiling a little and Star was giggling. Kwan was happy about that; this little break and the ball definitely helped bring back some of his girlfriend's old bluster. Mr. Lancer was the next one out and Kwan had to admit that he almost forgot about the old man...He had pretty much disappeared after the fight only reappearing for meals.

Next down was Tucker, Valerie and Jazz, but the three paid no attention to them as Jazz whispered something and pointed to her head causing the three to laugh...He would never understand them. The Fentons were the next down and Mr. Fenton had an entire tray of fudge. It seems even with his injury it won't keep the man down long.

Princess Dora, Danny and Sam were the last ones out and from the little bit of conversation Kwan caught apparently the three were planning on building a library with some modern books...He couldn't say he was surprised that Sam was just as involved seeing as how the princess and Fenton seemed to treat the Goth like an advisor.

"Everyone sure they got everything?" Danny called out. "Remember if you forgot anything you won't be able to come back for it."

Two minutes later, Paulina returned with her purse much to the amusement of everyone else, but that was the final delay before Dora turned into a giant blue dragon. Everyone got on with much trepidation. "The next lair we are going to is Pandora's Parthenon," Danny told them. "She's an ally of mine and is actually very kind, but do _not touch her box_! I'm not kidding about this...Not only will she freak on you, but that thing contains a lot of evil in it."

"Don't bring up the myth either," Tucker piped up. "She did not accidentally open the box, she invented it. She gets real moody when people think she screwed up, okay?"

"So, that place is going to have, like, the Greek myths?" Paulina asked. "Do you think Hercules is there?"

"Oh, Hercs there all right, but he's got as much muscle as Mikey," Valerie told her laughing. "Sure he's super strong, but you'd never be able to tell."

Paulina looked disappointed but contented herself that at least Dash had a lot of muscles for her to look at.

An hour later, Dora finally began her descent to the ancient looking Parthenon much to the joy of everyone on the dragon...Riding a dragon bareback was not fun! Seriously! Either way, the second Dora touched down an explosion ringed out much to the group's fear (and slight annoyance).

A split second later, a centaur was flung out the building like a rag doll...Danny didn't waste any time as he rushed over to the down hybrid. "What's going on?"

"Box...Destroyed...Hades...Pandora..." The centaur mumbled before he disintegrated much to Danny's horror.

"Dora! Go back to Aragon!" Danny ordered his fellow highness. "You can't afford to get caught up in this battle right after Aragon's defeat...Our kingdom needs you in perfect health."

Dora looked mutinous, but one look from Sam quelled her and she took off. "Sam, Jazz, I need you to go find Pandora and help her!" Danny commanded and the girls were gone before he even finished and he turned to everyone else. "Listen, apparently Pandora's Box was destroyed which means a ton of evil stuff is going to be flying around. Until Pandora can fix her box we're going to have to keep these things at bay...Trust me it would be worse to ignore—GET DOWN!"

Everyone dived as a harpy flew at them with her talons poised to strike, but a shot from Tucker blasted it back. "I think we get the idea," Tucker told him blowing the smoke out from his dual gun.

"Then let's get going!" Danny roared and charged into the building; it took a second, but everyone else made to follow as they have learned to do these past few days.

"WHY IS IT ALWAYS SNAKES?" Tucker cried out as he blasted a giant boa constrictor as Valerie began to shoot down a bunch of sirens.

A rock golem laughed stupidly as Star tried to shoot it down, but did absolutely nothing until Dash appeared and punched it with his new mechanical arm...He smashed through the thing like butter. "Well, at least I pack a bigger punch," Dash mumbled as Star shot down a giant bat that tried to get him from behind.

"Pay attention, Dash!" Star scolded shooting several small bats...She had been spending the last couple of days working on her aim as much as possible because she refused to let another friend get hurt just to help her.

Paulina slashed the ankles of a troll with her sword and Kwan shot it back as Jack and Maddie were trying to shoot down a pair of giants. "You gotta do it like this Mom!" Danny called out as he leapt from the second floor onto one of the giant's shoulders and neatly decapitating it. Likewise Tucker fired a dual shot that Valerie shot with one of her ecto-bullets to increase its power...With it the shot was able to penetrate the giant's thick head and kill it.

Or, at least stop it until the ghost giant got back up.

Dash grabbed a Minotaur by its horns and was able to literally throw it away, but his moment of cockiness nearly killed him when a sphinx tried to slash his head off. He was lucky that Danny had jumped in front of and pulled him out of the way so that Danny only received a cut on his left cheek.

"Stop showing off already!" Danny screamed furiously. "We get it! That arm's strong! Big deal! There's a battle going on so pay attention!"

Danny ended his rant by slicing a succubus right in half without even looking...Mr. Lancer actually managed to blast a small bat with his wrist ray only to have to be rescued by Paulina from a basilisk that nearly bit his head off.

Paulina's sword unfortunately couldn't penetrate the thick skin of the giant reptile, but luckily Jack was more than willing to assist when he shoved the bazooka into the things mouth and fired...Its entire head was blown right off. She was lucky he did that too because she nearly looked into the thing's eyes and would have been turned to stone.

Maddie back flipped and fired three shots at some small asps before she was forced to roll out of the way as a corridor filled with fire. "The hydra's here!" Danny called out. "That thing's one of the nastiest beasts from the box! Don't cut off any heads because they just re-grow!"

Danny charged the hydra...All the other evil beasts fled once that thing showed up; you do not want to screw with a hydra. "We're going to hold that thing off until it gets sucked back up!" Danny told them as he was knocked into a wall by one of its legs.

"Any idea where Pandora is?" Sam asked as she punched a troll out of her way and used an ice spell to freeze it there.

"Not a clue!" Jazz grunted as a goblin pounded mercilessly on her shield with an axe before Jazz's eyes glowed magenta and she caused a small boulder to knock the annoying goblin out of the way.

"HAHAHAHA! YOU WILL NOT CAPTURE ME AGAIN PANDORA!" A voice roared proudly followed by a giant blast of fire down the hall where they knew Pandora kept the box.

"I think we found her!" Sam said as she rushed down a flight a stairs and Jazz followed a second later as she used a giant boulder to block the way. They ran as hard as they could and were horrified at the sight before them.

Pandora was currently holding a three headed dog's mouths closed as best she could as a red skinned man with fire for hair was blasting just that...Fire. It was obvious that Pandora was losing and badly, so the girls knew what they had to do.

Sam quickly transformed into her Spell Caster outfit...Her magic was stronger when she looked like that because she resembled _her _more.

A solid magenta bubble formed around Jazz as she changed her clothes into her Mind Bridge costume. A black sweater and pants along with dark blue fingerless gloves, black tennis shoes, a dark blue bandanna over her hair as the little that wasn't covered turned magenta and a light blue...sweater vest...

Sam still believes that really ruined what could have been a real cool costume with that thing.

Despite this the two rushed off into battle without hesitation...Mind Bridge used her telekinesis to throw a piece of the broken wall at the dog to knock it off balance and Spell Caster immediately took advantage of this and used a powerful fire punch to knock it away. "Are you okay, Pandora?" Spell Caster asked seriously and the mythical ghost shook her head.

"I've used up most of my power fighting him...I can't fix the box," she explained seriously and showed that the box had been split in half as Mind Bridge grunted in pain as Pandora's opponent smashed wave after wave of fire at her barrier.

"Isn't there anyone else who can?" Spell Caster asked seriously as she began to support Jazz whose barrier was beginning to fail, but Pandora shook her head.

"It takes a great deal of magic to fix the box properly," Pandora explained. "If you were _her _you could do it; since you are not I'm afraid there's nothing we can do."

Spell Caster bit her lip in thought, but was forced to roll to the side as a wave of fire finally broke Mind Bridge's barrier completely. Luckily the roll actually helped her because what she needed fell out of her hat: the Amulet of Enchantments.

She worried about using it because if _she _awakened she would most likely kill everyone with no remorse or regret, but desperate times call for desperate measures. "Pandora, I've got something that could help!" Spell Caster told her as she back flipped over one of the heads to the Cerberus only to be caught by another and tossed across the room.

"Like I'd let you help that insufferable brat," Pandora's opponent snarled as he grabbed Spell Caster by the throat, choking her. "I, Hades, will not allow it!"

"You've got no choice," Mind Bridge told Hades as she telekinetically threw a stone spire at his arm and making him release Spell Caster.

"HOW DARE Y—" Mind Bridge blasted a pulse of telepathic energy at him blasting him off his feet allowing Spell Caster to escape. She was nearly caught by Cerberus again, but luckily Pandora jumped in and stabbed the beast's paws to the floor.

"_Terra Ligera_!" Spell Caster cried out holding the Amulet as it shined and suddenly the Cerberus was strapped to the floor by the magically controlled solid rock.

"I'll hold this guy off as long as I can!" Mind Bridge told them as she moved two giant boulders to intercept Hades blast of fire. "But, hurry!"

Spell Caster and Pandora hopped through a hole in the wall and ran down a far hallway before stopping in a random room. "This should be far enough," Pandora said. "Are you sure you'll be able to handle this?"

"I don't know...Normally my magic is far too weak for something of this caliber," Spell Caster explained apprehensively. "And, gaining so much power might awaken _her _again..."

"If you feel her awakening tell me and I'll lend you some of my power, but for right now I need to rest."

Spell Caster nodded as she began to chant, "_Κουτί__της__σφράγισης__, __έρχονται__κάνετε__όπως σας__προσφορά__..._"

Mind Bridge dived as Hades tried to punch her, but unfortunately for her she didn't react quick enough when he kneed her in the stomach. The monster was quick to follow up with a breath of fire that nearly burned her face if not for her shields.

Taking advantage of his surprise, she jumped backwards to regain her ground and think about what she needed to do in this situation. Unfortunately, her best bet would be some form of water, but there was none down here.

It galled on her that she couldn't think of a single way out of this beside Pandora's Box...Her powers had been because of her mind after all. As a baby, she had been exposed to a lot of ecto-energy since her parents never stopped experimenting even when it really should have been dangerous. As a result, the radiation had ended up affecting her mind, but luckily she had been young and thus adapted to it...It had increased her intelligence to near genius level. It was just a sub-form of her current mind powers.

Last year during a fight against Skulker, she had protected her brother when he had been nearly beaten thanks to Skulker shorting out Danny's powers. She had jumped in front of him and ended up on the wrong side of a powerful ecto-blast...At first there was worries that it might have negative effects on her mind since the injury was so bad she had to go to the hospital. As it turns out, she had been gifted with her psychic powers much the same way Danny had gained his ghost powers.

From then on she became Mind Bridge.

Back to the task at hand, she caused an old gladiator blade to float and do battle against Hades' glaive, but the rusted sword stood no chance as it was destroyed in an instant. That small second was all she needed to know to roll left as Hades released a powerful fire blast...Mind reading could come in handy at times. Mind Bridge was mindful of this power however as she wiped her bloody nose; should she ever over use it, it will kill her.

That second to wipe her nose would cost her however as the monster kicked her side to send her flying only to be caught around the throat by a whip of fire...

Meanwhile, Danny and the others were running around trying to distract the many headed beast as it tried to swallow them...It actually caught Danny and he was forced to chop off a head only for it to grow three more in its place. "This is ridiculous!" Dash screamed as he slid under the beast's stomach at the last second in order to avoid being stepped on.

Jack and Maddie stood in the back furthest away with Valerie as they sent barrage after barrage of shots at the thing to make it stumble as Paulina stabbed at the thing's legs ruthlessly. Tucker and Star were firing into as many open wounds as they could possibly muster and the beast roared in pain.

Kwan was thrown into the wall as he pushed Mr. Lancer out of the way of the beast's giant tail. '_I really don't belong here_,' Mr. Lancer thought as he winced in pain at his broken leg...The power on it had gone low and was currently recharging thus forcing him to walk on it.

"Mr. Lancer, if you can't fight then get out of the way!" Danny ordered cutting the jaw off one of the hydra heads that was about to eat the poor old teacher. Danny flipped over a leg and came back down on it to leave a large slash on the thing.

"Watch it Fenton!" Dash grabbed his favorite punching bag when one of the heads breathed fire at the raven haired teen.

"Thanks Dash," Danny said as he used the scythe like a pole and kicked the beast in the face followed up by a roll as the thing tried to step on him when he noticed something. "Paulina, look out!"

Paulina turned at the last second to see a huge blast of fire coming at her, but lucky for her Kwan reacted fast enough to avoid being burned alive.

Unfortunately, only half of her body escaped the fire leaving almost her entire right side on fire! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Paulina screeched in pain as everything but her face was engulfed in flames.

"Paulina!" Star cried out and she rushed to her best friend side as she smothered the flames with her coat. Paulina was a wreck with half of her body completely burnt and long locks destroyed all the way up to her neck...She was lucky that Star was able to put out the fire before it reached her best friend's face, but that doesn't guarantee the girl's survival.

Kwan was about to yell for Star to watch out when the beast tried to step on the Chinese football player...He was only saved from being killed by Dash's arm taking most of the impact when his best friend ran to catch the foot.

The jocks were knocked out either way.

With Kwan unable to call out to her, Star and Paulina found themselves flung mercilessly across the room by the hydra's tail. As they were about to impact the wall, Star grabbed her best friend and allowed her to only hit the actual wall, and as the blonde passed out she smiled at finally being able to help Paulina even a little.

The hydra charged for Jack, Maddie and Valerie now that most of the close up gnats was taken care of...The three were forced to dive out of the way. One of the heads tried to swallow Maddie only for Danny to appear with Paulina's sword cutting the head off as he swung around another neck with his scythe. Like usual three heads grew to replace it, but it was enough time for Maddie to get out of the danger as Tucker and Valerie began shooting at its belly.

They were forcibly pulled out by Jack when the thing tried to lay on them and he blasted it away with a full power shot from his bazooka that drained the last of its energy. Luckily, the weapons only needed time to recharge here since there was so much ecto-energy always floating around compared to the vehicles that used a mix of ecto-energy and regular fuel.

Unfortunately, that meant Jack was without a weapon, but Danny solved that by handing him Paulina's sword. Everyone stared at the hydra preparing for the final assault...When the beast suddenly was flying away like it was being sucked up!

"Yes!" Danny cried out as Tucker and Valerie sighed in relief much to Jack, Maddie and a cowering Mr. Lancer's confusion. "This means that Pandora must have fixed her box!"

Indeed, Spell Caster and Pandora were sitting on the ground exhausted...Halfway through the procedure Spell Caster felt _her _wake up and thus needed the Greek myth's help. The amount of power it took to fix it had completely drained Spell Caster's power leaving her unable to move.

Happily for her though, the Amulet of Enchantments had turned to dust from complete overload and so she no longer had to worry about sealing it. Pandora was smiling as she hit the reverse on the box and was forcibly sucking all the escaped evils back into it. She was relieved when the Cerberus and hydra went flying into it...Only Hades was left.

Back in the chamber, Hades had dropped Mind Bridge as he clawed his hands into the stone floor trying to prevent being sucked up. If he held on a little longer the box would automatically close and he'll be safe from being sucked up as he won't be registered as one of the evils any longer.

"Hey Hades!" Mind Bridge cried and he looked up only for him to be kicked in the face and a boulder to send him flying. "GOODBYE!"

Hades screamed in vengeance and fury as he went flying down the hall...Every time he tried to catch himself in the wall, another boulder would fly and hit him. "NNNOOOOOOO!" Hades screamed furiously as he was sucked into the box and it closed with a snap.

"Well that's that," Pandora whispered satisfied as Spell Caster turned back into Sam. "Do you mind telling me what you are doing here in the first place though?"

Sam began to explain as the Greek myth carried her out where Mind Bridge had turned back into Jazz was sitting tiredly as she bandaged her burnt neck. The three headed upstairs where Danny was waiting impatiently. The second Pandora removed the boulder, Danny grabbed Jazz and told her about Paulina...Despite her fatigue she rushed over to the burnt up Latino. The girl was luckily still alive if barely.

"We have medicine that can help the healing process," Pandora told them. "Still the girl will have to remain here for two days for to work best and her skin will forever be burned, but she should live."

"Thank you," Jazz said gratefully.

"It's nothing...It should take me around two days to calm down by denizens anyway, and the Pegasus' are especially hard to calm," Pandora explained but they just looked at her confused. "I plan to lend you my Pegasus' so you can get to Plasmius' portal."

"Oh, thank you Pandora," Sam said before she passed out happy to have left the pieces of that amulet behind.

"Just as planned," Plasmius whispered from the shadows looking at the remnants of the Amulet of Enchantments as he teleported away.

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><p><strong>AN2: So, another battle and what of two OCs in the entire story had shown up.**

**Yes, I know that how Jazz got her power is a DEM, but I figured if Danny could do it than Jazz should to.**

**I debated whether or not to mention if Danny and Sam made love again, but in the end it seemed appropriate to the situation since Danny was unconscious for two days with no signs of waking up after a huge big battle...Comfort was needed and that can be one of the greatest ways to provide it.**

** Half of Paulina's body was burned up, but she is going to survive thanks to Pandora's medicine...Still she'll be scarred for the rest of her life (if you know Zuko from Avatar: the Last Airbender, her entire right side will look like that forever). Only her face didn't get burned thanks to Star's quick actions.**

**Dash's arm only has enhanced his natural strength...Right now Tucker and Valerie don't have the resources to build weapons into it since they might need the tech they still have later on.**

**Sam's chant:**

**"Κουτί της σφράγισης, έρχονται κάνετε όπως σας προσφορά ..." = "Box of Sealing, come do as I bid you..." (I used Google translate so if anyone knows how it should really be written I'd appreciate you telling me so that I can fix it).**

**Next chapter, they'll finally reach Plasmius' portal. The question is whether or not it will still be opened or if Plasmius took care of it.  
><strong>


	7. Arc I: Plasmius' Portal

**A/N: Sorry about the wait...I had a mild case of writer's block, but I pushed myself to write this chapter. I hope you like it anyway.**

**Remember to vote on the poll...The decision for rather or not I should keep this "T" or make it "M" will be decided once I'm ready to post the next chapter.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own.**

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><p><strong>Plasmius' Portal<strong>

"This has been a pretty crazy adventure, huh dude?" Tucker asked Danny as they flew next to each other with their Pegasus'. It had been two days since the battle at Pandora's and once again everyone had been reluctant to leave. It was unfortunate that they knew waiting there would do nothing but probably cause them to be attacked again, and so with a heavy heart everyone climbed up their Pegasus to move onto the next destination.

The fact that the next stop should be a place where they could end up leaving this place was not missed on anyone, but after seeing how badly scarred Paulina was they were more relieved than excited. Paulina entire right side from her neck down was completely red and burned...She would forever be scarred.

Since Paulina's injury, Sam, Tucker, Valerie and Jazz had been trying to convince Danny to reveal their secret since they could fight better as their heroic form but Danny refused...He explained that since they'll be leaving soon anyway there was no real point. The others disagreed but conceded to him as usual...Danny had very rarely steered them wrong after all. It didn't help that they worried how the group would act when they showed themselves or if that meant the attacks would get worse.

So far everything they had faced was more or less not that difficult to fight as humans...Paulina and Dash's injuries had been freak accidents that could have happened anyway even if they _did _transform and use their powers. Star and Jack's had been unavoidable since it happened from the crash and not a fight. But, there was no guarantee that Plasmius was indeed behind all of these attacks and was using just enough power to counter them as is...Should they transform the "fodder" might end up being more powerful to counter their heroic powers.

Danny suspected that Plasmius definitely had something to do with all of the attacks...The fact that Technus didn't chase them down once he freed himself from the virus said more than anyone else seemed to understand. Plasmius is also one of the only ghosts who would be able to find a rare tool like the Amulet of Enchantments, and he would definitely have no qualms of releasing the evils within Pandora's Box. Should that be the case then a reveal might really be the last thing they wanted.

"It's not over yet, Tuck," Danny answered his best friend. "There's no guarantee that Plasmius didn't close the portal."

"But, Plasmius is incapable of opening portals of himself," Tucker pointed out. "He can't get out of here if he destroys his own portal or turns it off; he'd be trapped forever if he did so."

"You know how he is Tuck. Do you really think he might not have an alternate plan?"

"Dude, don't ruin my good mood," Tucker told him looking annoyed. "I've got to be cheerfully optimistic!"

Danny rolled his eyes at his friend, but he couldn't stop the small smile playing on his face...Tucker's crazy antics was one of the reasons he was still able to keep going. Even when things got rough, he didn't lose his spirit.

"Hey, why are we, like, going down?" Star asked Danny and the Halfa just realized that the Pegasus' were indeed heading downward toward a small floating island with a giant rock bridge.

"Yeah, why are we going down? Plamsius' portal is just across the bridge," Danny told them, but the Pegasus did not stop.

"Ghosts do not go near there," a Pegasus said shocking the riders.

"You can talk?" Paulina screeched in shock and nearly falling over.

"Of course, but that's not important." The Pegasus' landed on the rock bridge and the group of humans got off. "No one goes near there in fear of being caught by the dark one...Only those he hires enter there. We will not escort you the rest of the way; we shall head back to our mistress'."

With that final sentiment, the Pegasus' took off effectively stranding everyone there much to everyone's horror. "They didn't!" Valerie mumbled in shock.

"They did," Sam confirmed with a bitter tone. "Thanks for everything you stupid mules!"

"What are we going to do if that portal's closed?" Maddie asked as she held onto Jack's arm anxiously...This is the second time they've been stranded in the Ghost Zone. It's that reason that Maddie and Jack were considering not fixing the broken portal so a trip like this couldn't happen again.

"Die of course," a voice said darkly above them and Danny could hold in his annoyance as his ghost sense went off.

"Skulker...What are you doing here?" Danny demanded prepared to face the supposed hunter.

"Well, that's a secret whelp, but I'm sure you understand," Skulker quipped as his robotic suit smirked. "Of course I was given a _very _generous gift by my benefactor to ensure things went as planned."

Skulker snapped his fingers and suddenly the whole area was surrounded by hundreds of ghost animals of every kind imaginable. "Sick 'em," Skulker said smiling and the animals pounced much to everyone's aggravation.

They were so close!

Danny rolled to the side as a rhino ghost nearly stepped on him and he cut the beast with his hastily pulled out scythe. He was about to go after Skulker when something blasted him into the bit of woods in the area. "Danny, I got Skulker!" Valerie yelled to him as she shot down a couple of ghost sharks. "Help everyone cut the forces down while I hold him off! Be quick though! I doubt I'll be able to hold him off for long!"

Before Danny could protest, Valerie shot into the woods like a bat out of Hell...Danny growled to himself. He owed Skulker for putting that ghost sense blocker on him, but it seems he wouldn't get his payback. "Hello misplaced aggression," Danny growled out at a ghost elephant that he slid under and cut from underneath it.

"This is getting ridiculous!" Dash barked out as he shot a wolf down and punched a hippopotamus away right to where Paulina was cutting through a pack of lions. She screamed in pain as she was forced to dive from the hippo and ended up in the jaws of a lion.

Before the beast could tear her arm off, Star shot the beast right between the eyes; the blonde quickly followed up by shooting a tiger that nearly caught Kwan from behind the same time Kwan shot a hyena that tried to sneak behind her. Neither savored their victory as they went back-to-back shooting anything that got near.

"I hate Skulker so much!" Sam bellowed furiously as she plowed a giraffe's head into the ground and used its body to jump up and roundhouse kick a bunch of falcons. After the attack she crashed down onto a polar bear. She was saved from a condor when Maddie blasted the bird with her bazooka.

'_Eat this ecto-scum!_' Jack thought as he shoved his bazooka into a grizzly bear's stomach and fired. He followed up by shooting at a vulture only to miss and hit a floating rock instead.

"AAAAHHH!" Jazz screamed as she was nearly crushed by the rocks, but to make it even worse her moment of distraction allowed a timber wolf to slash her across the stomach. Jack silently cursed as he realized that was his fault but his only distraction caused him to miss Maddie being in trouble resulting in his wife being bucked by a full grown stag.

Tucker shot the beast before it could follow up and shot some weird rabbit-pig-monkey hybrid at the same time. "Dude! Why did he have to bring the freaky ones too?" Tucker complained as a kangaroo-ostrich nearly kicked him only for Tucker to side step and shoot it. "And, why are they all after _me_?"

"Maybe because you keep calling them freaks!" Danny retorted as a tiger caught his arm only for him to cut the head off. "And, that's really hypocritical coming from you!"

"You were the freaky one first dude!" Tucker retorted shooting a three eyed fish-dolphin _thing_.

"No, even back then you were the weird one!" Sam disagreed suddenly appearing between the two of them as she caused a pterodactyl to crash between them. "Danny was just different!"

"No, Danny was always weird," Jazz disagreed as she back flipped over a hippo and threw her shield to cut down a raptor's head. "Trust me I would know!"

"This is like so not the time to argue about this!" Paulina complained and screamed in pain as a cheetah bit into her scarred arm.

"Paulina!" Dash cried as he shot the thing and then used his robotic arm to smash it into the ground. He knew better than to gloat this time however as he shot a bull between the eyes. Paulina didn't let her injury stop her from fighting as she pounced on a crocodile and forcing its mouth closed as a terrified Mr. Lancer was almost bit in half.

"Where the Wild Things Are!" Mr. Lancer screamed in shock as a bunch of vultures dived at him and the man was so afraid that he didn't bother to try anything except run away. He was saved once again by Jazz as her shield cut them down; Jazz caught the shield and rolled her eyes at the useless teacher.

Jack having learned his lesson ran up to a cobra and shot from point blank range just as it was about to bite Star's head. Star herself didn't even notice as she was trying to shoot a cheetah...

"AARGH!" Kwan cried out and Star turned to him only to blanch...

Valerie screamed as she shot Skulker again to push him further away before she willed her armor to attach itself to her. While the technology was similar to Technus' version of her suit, the design was based more on the original.

It was completely red with thing black "Tron" lines running along it (for power and because they looked awesome according to Tucker)...Her mask was a near duplicate except there was now a targeting system on it as well.

She was Foresight.

Skulker slid to a stop and back flipped to land on his feet and Valerie dived left as a missile blasted at her. Luckily, Skulker was male so her powers still worked, but she had to be careful when she used it. It doesn't matter if she can see it after all if her body isn't given enough time to react to it.

She wished she could use her board, but like Tucker explained before everything except Danny's motorcycle (which couldn't fly) was broken. That's why she was forced to roll away as Skulker took the high ground and began to blast at her with little no care about his ammunition. Why should he when Vlad was paying for all of it?

She could care less though as she fired her own shoulder missiles at him followed up with her ecto-machine gun. Skulker's new suit was fast though...Very fast! He quickly dodged all of the shots while slowly coming in close enough that he managed to punch her in the face.

Valerie fired a wrist ray as she used her power to see his follow up and blasted him in the face. The girl followed up by kneeing him in the stomach only for it to be completely useless against him. Skulker smirked in a cocky fashion as he patted his stomach. "Hard isn't? Completely new metal now," Skulker told her proudly. "Unlike your feeble human body!"

Skulker followed up his statement by kneeing her in the stomach just like she had; Valerie coughed as she bent over in pain, but she had no time to recover as the metal hunter punched her in the face. Valerie screamed in pain as slammed through a tree horribly.

Skulker fired an ecto-ray at her only for it to be shot through by Valerie's ecto-sniper rifle; the automaton knew better than try to tank the hit and dodged. Valerie wasn't going to give him time to recover as she opened all of her weapon ports to attack with a full barrage.

Missiles, ecto-beams and even ecto-bullets went blasting at the robotic man and he screamed out in pain as blast after blast hit him. "I'll kill you!" Skulker cried out in pain but Valerie didn't let up until she used up nearly all of her ammunition. "You'll pay for what you did to me!"

Valerie smirked proudly under her mask until the smoke cleared to reveal a completely unharmed Skulker. "Kidding," Skulker mocked as Valerie gaped at him.

Her stunned disbelief was her undoing as the hunter flew at her faster than she could react and punched her in the face. She went flying, but Skulker's suit was so fast that he flew past her and punched her in the ground. Valerie cried out in pain, but it was cut off stomped on her stomach.

Valerie tried to use her power to react to the next attack, but she was too slow. That's why she wasn't able to stop herself from being thrown by Skulker only for the hunter to run along her flying form and punch her up and down along the way before elbowing her into a boulder. She had barely enough time to use an ecto-shield as a giant ecto-blast hit her near blank range.

Truly, if her suit did not have automatic protection and if she didn't throw up that quick shield she would be dead. Still, the girl was crying from the pain as her suit was broken in places and her mask completely gone. She was bruised and beaten as Skulker picked her up by the neck. "It's a shame you aren't the whelp...I could have added you to the mantle by now."

"Screw you Skulker!" Valerie spat in his face and the ghost angrily slammed her face into the tree.

"You will show the world's greatest hunter respect!" Skulker roared in fury but she just spat on him again. He was about to teach her a lesson she'd never forget for that when a distant cry of pain was heard and his armlet beeped.

"Looks like play time is over," Skulker said dropping the girl with a scowl. "Too bad...I was just about to get serious."

Valerie's eyes widened in shock, but before she could say anything the metal monster flew away; she didn't understand. Why didn't he finish her? Was it something Plasmius had planned or something else so he could skin Danny?

It was with these questions that she pushed herself up and caused her suit to retract. Her body was full of bruises and cuts, but the suit took most of the damage so she could at least limp back. And, limp she did...The whole painful walk. Something else had happened she was sure and she had a nasty feeling she'll have to build something again. '_This is the field trip from Hell,_' Valerie decided bitterly.

She knew right from the start that this was a bad idea, but she never thought it would go this far...No one deserved this. Even when Paulina was at her worst she didn't deserve this. It was disgusting at how happily the ghosts seemed to attack the regular humans...Granted they attacked them just as readily, but Team Phantom had experience! Not even the Fentons got to fight ghosts this often thanks to her team's effort.

She just hoped Plasmius wasn't waiting on the other side of the portal because she can't fight right now.

With that last feeble hope, she limped into the clearing to see Maddie cleaning up some of the minor injuries like the cuts and bites with the medicine Pandora gave them while Jazz frantically desperately tried to help Kwan.

The one legged Kwan.

Valerie blanched at the sight of it and of Star crying into Paulina's chest; Kwan was her ex-boyfriend and even if he ditched her when she was no longer popular they still had an okay relationship. She knew very well that Kwan didn't really like to bully people, and did so only because he didn't want to lose Dash as a friend.

Instantly, she knew what she had to do even before Tucker rushed over. "Valerie, are you alright?" Tucker asked worriedly and Valerie smiled a little.

"I'll be fine Tucker, just a bit bruised," Valerie assured him but he didn't look reassured. "We'll worry about me later...Hand over the blueprints to what is probably a robotic leg for Kwan."

"R-Right," Tucker stuttered handing them over and the two walked over to their pile of scraps. Valerie took his hand and squeezed it...It was only then that Tucker seemed to relax a little.

"It'll be alright Sarah," Paulina said rubbing her best friend's back soothingly. "You know Foley and Valerie will be able to help him...They helped Dash after all."

Star shook her head refusing to believe it and it truly broke the Latino's heart...Paulina knew how much the girl loved the line backer though. She scolded her enough times reminding her that if Kwan became unpopular she'd have to dump him so she might as well not get too attached.

Thinking about it, it really sounded stupid. Most of things she's said sound incredibly stupid after this week. There's no way she can go back to just caring about looks, money and popularity after this...They just seem unimportant compared to be thankful that she and her friends were still alive.

She could never look down on Danny and Sam again either as she watched them frantically help Jazz stop Kwan from bleeding to death. She was so thankful that the ones she called losers were as petty as she had been because she and the rest of her friends would probably be dead from now. They protected them, taking on the more powerful, more dangerous ghosts all the while giving them weapons to make sure they could fight as well.

Sam, since their truce, for instance had been helping her develop from the basic sword fighting that some of the knights at Princess Dora's realm taught her. Foley and Valerie had been the one to make sure Dash could use his arm without hurting himself...They were truly wonderful people.

Unlike her.

But, she was trying to change...She wanted to make it up to them.

Suddenly she blanched as Valerie and Tucker came over with the fake leg...She'll never forget Dash's screams of pain when they attached his arm. She didn't want Star to hear it but the girl refused to move, so she stealed herself as Kwan began to scream in agony.

Star couldn't take the screams as she began to sob loudly and clutched even harder on to her best friend. Still she refused to leave her beloved's side.

Dash himself had fainted the moment he saw his best buddy without a leg and had still not awakened...Mr. Lancer was watching over him. The old man knew he had been useless so far, but come _on_! He was a teacher, not a soldier! He couldn't understand how his students were able to adapt to fighting so easily!

Three hours later everyone sighed in relief as Kwan's unconscious screams finally died down and the group stepped away. Star was instantly up and rushed over to see his leg and she knew right then that like Dash he won't be playing football either. "Will...Will he be okay?" Star asked nervously twisting her top.

"He'll be fine," Jazz assured her seriously. "I managed to prevent too much blood loss, but he'll probably be out of it for a day or two."

"So, we can't leave for a couple of days?" Paulina asked her heart sinking and she could swear her burned scar burned a little.

"Sam, Tucker and I are going to go check," Danny told her seriously. "If the portal's open one of us will go on the other side to make sure it stays that way."

Paulina nodded in understanding too tired to fight as Star laid her head on Kwan's torso hugging his arm as if her life depended on it. She knew that the blonde needed some time alone with her beau, so instead she went to go sit next to Dash and watched him sleep.

"We'll see you in a few," Danny told his sister and Valerie as he, Tucker and Sam started to walk over the rock bridge. The two girls waved before Jazz pulled Valerie to sit and began to treat her wounds.

"You sure it's a good idea for them to go by themselves?" Valerie grunted.

"Course it is...You know how powerful they are," Jazz said a little bitterly. "Sure, they can't use their most powerful abilities without some bad things happening but they've been at this longer than both of us."

"I...I guess it kind of perturbs me to know that if they ever get control of their full power they wouldn't need me," Valerie said. "Heck, they barely right now!"

"I know what you mean...I've seen Danny use those five powers at least once," Jazz said bitterly. "He's so unbelievably powerful...Heck, if this was a story I'd say he's practically a Marty Stu in power!"

"Yeah, well if _she _is any indication, Sam's no slouch either," Valerie pointed out jealously. "And, if Tucker hadn't been forced to make that encryption on _those _abilities, he would have wiped the floor with Technus."

"But, you know what would happen if he tried that right?" Jazz reminded her. "Until he gets through those viruses Tucker just _can't_ use them."

Valerie sighed to herself...She didn't like the feeling of helplessness, but she always felt that way when he knew how those three outclassed her. It's like comparing a drop of water to an ocean...In a way she was glad that they couldn't truly fight at their best so she still mattered.

She's never told Tucker but sometimes she grew afraid that he'd grow bored of her one day if he could be as powerful as he truly is.

Tucker was oblivious to these fears as he walked with his two best friends however. He smiled at the sight of Danny and Sam holding hands...Sam had crushed on Danny since Kindergarten and he was glad that she finally got her guy. He was happy for Danny too.

"Man, this brings back memories," Danny said with a small smile as he tried to push the thoughts of Kwan's current state out of his mind. "It feels like it has been forever since it was just the three of us."

"The good old days when our biggest problem was making sure the Box Ghost stayed in here." Sam laughed. "I forgot how annoying he could be!"

"I'm just glad him having Boxed Lunch got him to calm down," Danny said with a sigh. "Though that still feels 'ewe' to me!"

"I think everyone agrees on that one dude!" Tucker snickered. "Even Boxed Lunch has said it a few times!"

"Only because you taught her!" Sam retorted with mirth clearly in her voice.

"Yeah, and the Lunch Lady nearly killed us for that!" Danny said not looking quite as amused. "I swear I can still smell barbeque sauce on me!"

"_You_?" Tucker asked in disbelief. "I still smell like Brussels sprouts!"

"That's because you don't bathe!" Sam scolded. "Honestly, I don't know how Valerie can stand to be so close to you I'll never know."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I shower before every date!"

"Tuck, pouring a bottle of cologne on yourself before a date doesn't count as a shower," Danny teased further making Tucker scowl.

"Ha ha! You guys are _so_...funny..." Tucker trailed off as the three realized that without even noticing they were in front of the giant football used to hide Vlad's portal...Not that it was subtle in any shape or form. "I guess we made it..."

"You guys ready to leave?" Danny asked with hope in his voice and the two nodded. Sam squeezed his hand reassuringly before letting go and with bated breath Danny pushed the giant purple football out of the way.

The portal wasn't there.

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><p><strong>AN2: So, this story concludes the first arc of my story...The next arc is the journey to the Far Frozen.**

**Things won't be quite as laid back this next arc compared to the first one...Although it _is _less violent in certain ways. This next arc should also reveal who _she _is.**

**With the fight with Skulker...I tried to show why Danny said he would need help the next time he fought the hunter and why it was lucky the suit was on the fritz. The more powerful ghosts will begin to show themselves this next arc (Only Technus and Skulker _really _showed how much more powerful they had become).**

**So, until next time!  
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	8. Arc II: A Heart to Heart

**A/N: So, the story has been bumped up to "M", but if I get fewer reviews or hits I'm bumping it back to "T" with warnings of violence.**

**DISCALIMER: I DON'T OWN DANNY PHANTOM**

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><p><strong>A Heart-to-Heart<strong>

Danny could only stare at the open space where Plasmius' portal used to be in disbelief and horror as Tucker fell to his knees crying as he pounded the ground, and Sam covered her mouth in shock as she fell on her butt.

They couldn't believe it...All that fighting, all those injuries and for what? Nothing...The portal was _gone_. To make matters worse, the Pegasus' stranded them here on an island far too big for Jazz to telepathically move. That's not even counting the fact that Valerie was almost out of ammunition either!

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! WHY? _WHY?_" Tucker cried pounding his fist. "We were so close! It was right _here_ and now it's NOT! WHY?"

"I didn't think he'd actually close it..." Sam whispered forcing back her tears. "I didn't think he'd go so far to get rid of us..."

Danny sighed and sat on a rock cradling his face with one of his hands as he sighed tiredly. This was just typical Plasmius...The Froot Loop just couldn't make things any easier for them! _No_...He had to go and make things harder. The worst part was how injured everyone was! Not to mention how inexperienced they were!

Team Phantom had decided to not split up because if they were honest they weren't sure they'd be able to handle a fight by themselves anymore AND the others couldn't handle a fight without them. Danny was sure that Plasmius had more obstacles and armies for them to fight seeing how the portal was closed...It would be foolish to leave them right now!

"Come on guys," Danny said standing up and stretching. "I think it's time we went back..."

"Oh man! How are we going to tell Star?" Tucker asked shuddering. "After what happened to Kwan, I'm not sure she'll be able to handle this..."

"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm more worried about Paulina," Sam said with a slight tone of disbelief. "She's been taking things so hard...I think this trip has at least taught her _something _about being shallow."

"How are we going to get off this stupid floating rock anyway?" Tucker asked as they walked over the bridge. "We're pretty much stranded..."

"If Jazz transforms and flies—"

"NO!" Danny interrupted Sam who glared at him. "This isn't about keeping our secrets, Sam! I'm serious! Right now it's too dangerous to split up...Maybe when Kwan wakes up we'll do that, but we can't afford to be without two people the way things have been going."

Sam and Tucker looked at him with sudden understanding...They've been completely out numbered and injured, and that's with a full team. Splitting up...Especially when the regular humans still had a long way to go would do nothing but result in possible death.

"Danny?" Jazz asked loudly standing up and everyone turned to see the trio. "Why are all of you back? Unless..."

"The portal's gone," Danny told them looking down.

Jazz stared at him bug eyed as if she was waiting for Danny to yell "pysch!" and laughed at their faces. Except he didn't and she knew he wasn't lying by the way he couldn't look them in the eye. Danny ALWAYS avoided eye contact when he had to deliver bad news. She didn't want to believe that Vlad had finally gone so far that he closed his own portal just to try and trap them in this nightmarish place!

Valerie clenched her fists as she tried to stop herself from throwing a raging fit as she knew it would do no good right now...Plasmius had gotten them good this time! It...It PISSED HER OFF SO DAMN MUCH GOD DAMN IT! WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS DOING THIS TO THEM? TO NORMAL PEOPLE LIKE STAR? HE HAS NO RIGHT AND SHE JUST WANTS TOO...WANTS TOO...ARGH!

Star let out a choke sob as she grabbed onto her boyfriend's jacket...She had been hoping that they were going to get out of here! She felt like everything was crumbling under her as her stream of tears soaked everything around her.

Paulina was numb...She couldn't feel shocked, angry, sad or _anything_. It was like every bad feeling, every happy feeling and well any feelings she had were just sucked out of her. It was like she finally became what Sam Manson had called her for years: heartless. She could do nothing but stare dumbly at the people around her as they broke down in one way or another unable to comprehend how they could so many emotions while she stood here without even a single tear.

Maddie was clutching onto her husband as his strong, loving arms wrapped around her in comfort. The woman could not feel any tears fall, but that was okay because Jack was crying for both of them. For truly the first time in their lives they truly understand how _selfish_ they were...This trip was used as nothing but an excuse to finally explore their life's work legally. Except now all it did was bring pain to a bunch of innocent teenagers who could be shopping at the mall or at home watching ghost movies. For the first time in their lives they truly doubted the work they were involved in.

As Jack pulled Maddie back, his tear stained eyes stared at her hurt but dry eyes, and a decision was reached...After they escaped from this place they were done with ghosts. Their _obsession_ with the beings of this world has been for naught and should not have been pursued in the first place. With a powerful kiss, they showed their mutual agreement and love...With that kiss they knew that even without ghosts they'd still be happy. They didn't need ghosts and no longer desired to have them nearby.

Dash was pounding his fists into the ground as hard as he could, releasing all of his sorrow in the only way he learned how...He couldn't stand this! Just when he thought they reached rock bottom, they rolled off a cliff and went lower! He had been hopeful, stupidly so, that they were done with place! That it was the end of week of hell, but it's _not_. And, now here they are stranded and with no means to escape...They could be attacked at any moment and there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it!

Mr. Lancer sighed in defeat as he looked as his students...He had known from the beginning this trip was nothing but a mistake. Still he never thought it would be this bad...A whole week's worth of travelling to this one place for nothing. All week's worth of fights for nothing. A week's worth of injuries and for nothing. He couldn't take much more of this or these ghosts...After this school year he planned to retire and move far, far away from Amity Park. He might just do that earlier instead after this debacle.

"What are we going to do now?" Paulina asked hoarsely.

"For now? We'll wait until Kwan wakes up," Danny decided. "After that, we'll come up with something to get off this pile of rubble and start to head to the Far Frozen."

"How long will that take?" Dash groaned worried about his best friend.

"Two to three days," Jazz told him.

"Exactly, so let's set up camp," Danny told them and everyone followed their instructions. To be honest there wasn't much to do except lay the sleeping bags out and set up a small fire. Once that was done everyone ate a light dinner making sure not to waste any food because it's all they might have for the next bit of the trip.

Once that was done, it was time for some shut eye. "Two people should stay up to keep watch," Tucker pointed out. "Otherwise we might get attacked in our sleep."

"Good...Good idea, Tuck," Sam congratulated yawning. "Danny and I can take—mmph"

Danny cut her off by placing his hand over her mouth. "No way Sam...I'll be fine, but you're obviously tired. You can take next shift."

"But—"

"No buts," Danny said sternly forcing her to lie down. "Just get some sleep...I love you."

"I love you too..." Sam said tiredly and Danny bent over to lay a soft, sweet kiss upon her lips that always makes her blush very beautifully. By the time Danny pulled up, she had fallen asleep with a small smile and curled into the sleeping bag breathing peacefully.

"You know Danny, the kiss is supposed to _wake_ Sleeping Beauty up, not put her to _sleep_," Tucker whispered as he laid down only for Valerie to hit him in the face with a pillow. He was about to ask what that was for, but when he turned to her she instantly kissed him.

"Night," she whispered softly and Tucker could only grin as he lay back down.

Star laid her sleeping bag next to the one Kwan was in and sighed in content memorizing every inch of his face before letting her exhaustion finally over take her. Jack and Maddie combined their sleeping bags and Maddie could feel her body relax as she curled up into her husband while Jack felt safe with Maddie around his arms. Mr. Lancer just laid down feeling tired and alone as he fell asleep...

Paulina bent over and kissed Dash's cheek much to his surprise and embarrassment before his cocky smirk appeared as fell asleep. "Looks like it's you and me," Paulina noted looking around.

"You're not going to sleep?" Danny asked surprised...He expected to stay up by himself.

"No...I doubt I can sleep right now," Paulina told him sighing as she sat closer to the fire. "Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Danny asked as he sat closer to the fire to stare at Paulina in confusion.

"For...For well everything," Paulina admitted tucking her knees in to her chest. "I know I was a terrible person at school, but well...I guess being here fighting for my life has sort of put things in perspective for me..."

"That tends to happen," Danny agreed with a grin. "The question is where do you go from here?"

"I don't want to be, like, that mean person anymore...I'd never be able to stay friends with Sarah—Star—if I did."

"You know, it's funny I thought you would have ditched Star when she lost here." Danny glanced at her apologetically. "I'm sorry for doubting you."

"No, I don't blame you." Paulina shook her head sadly. "I never gave you a reason to _not _think that..."

"Well, I know for a fact that the Paulina I've seen this past week has given me plenty of reasons to not think that."

Danny sat next to her staring into the fire and squeezed her shoulder in reassurance, but Paulina just scoffed. "I know what people say about me Danny...Especially Sam. How I'm so shallow I wouldn't even get people's feet wet if I turned into a puddle...I can't, like, completely change that."

"Why not?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why can't you change completely?"

"I just won't be me...It'd be like you not wanting to be an astronaut."

"How did you know about that?"

"Please Danny...I'm the biggest gossip in school! Of course I know all about your dream," Paulina said not being completely honest. It was true that she learned about his dream through gossip, but it was in middle school when she used to have her crush.

"Well, I guess I see your point," Danny admitted...Even now after all these years he still wanted to be one. "But, I doubt you'd be that shallow now...My feet will at least get a _little _wet."

Paulina had to cover her mouth to muffle her giggle before looking down. "I'm sorry about how I treated your feelings back in freshmen year...It's just—"

"You don't need to explain, I get it," Danny interrupted carefully. "To be honest, I think it worked out for the best because I ended up with one of the most wonderful women on the planet."

Danny stared at Sam with a small smile and Paulina couldn't stop her small look of jealousy. "You really love her, don't you?"

"I do," Danny agreed with no hesitation or embarrassment; to him he just stated a fact and nothing else. Paulina realized this too...It wasn't like high school love with the giggling and uncontrollable passion that led to many mistakes. No, this was an old kind of love...The kind you see with old married couples. The kind where the person knows how they feel today will be what they feel tomorrow, next week, next month or even next year; it was the kind of love that you can't truly tease because it's just so _natural_, so _right_.

It made her feel lonely.

"I'm jealous of you two...I wish I had something like that."

"What about Dash?"

"I...I don't really know," Paulina admitted. "I think I might still like him even without him being popular, but I still have that crush on Danny Phantom..."

"Why?" Paulina looked at him confused, so he clarified. "Why do you have a crush on Danny Phantom? I mean you don't even know anything about him..."

"I can't tell you."

"Why not."

"It's embarrassing."

"I won't laugh."

"Promise not to tell anyone?"

"Promise."

"I'm...kind of a comic book geek," Paulina admitted and Danny couldn't stop a chuckle from escaping. "You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"I'm...I'm sorry," Danny tried to apologize struggling not to laugh. "It's just...I expected you to say a lot of things but that was not one of them."

Paulina glared at him before she couldn't stop herself from letting out a giggle...That's all it took and sure enough the two of them were laughing out right, trying to cover their mouths to muffle it and not wake anyone up. She enjoyed this laughter because since coming here...Hell even before coming here she hasn't truly laughed in a long time.

Danny smirked as he saw her laugh so hard she began to cry...The only laugh he ever heard was the condescending one she used to mock everyone. He couldn't help but notice how much beautiful her real laughter is; it reminded him when he heard Sam's first real laugh. Truly, a real laugh is so much different...So much _happier _compared to the rest and he hoped that Paulina will be able to experience this herself someday.

Thirty minutes later, the two had finally calmed down enough and were currently watching the expansive green sky of the Ghost Zone. "So...You're really a comic book geek?" Danny asked finally grinning.

"Yeah since I was a little girl," Paulina admitted blushing. "Seeing a real superhero in real life...I guess I just can't help myself. I know I don't really stand a chance...I think I've always known but..."

"You had to try," Danny finished for her knowing the feeling when it came to her in freshmen year.

"Exactly."

"Will you still try if he shows up now?"

"I don't really know," Paulina admitted. "One part wants me to, but another..."

"Wants to go for Dash?"

"Yes."

"Well, if the time ever comes I hope you choose whatever makes you happiest."

"Thank you," Paulina said sincerely as she and Danny stood up; without thinking about it, she gave Danny a hug, but almost as soon as she did someone cleared their throat. Danny whipped around to see Sam standing there glaring with her hands on her hips and tapping her foot.

"S-Sam!" Danny squeaked. "It's not what it looks like!"

Sam couldn't hold it in any longer as she began to snicker. "Oh my god, Danny! You should have seen the look on you face!" Paulina joined in her laughter. "And, 'it's not what it looks like', really Danny? How cliché can you get?"

Danny pouted at her. "Oh enough with the face, Danny!"

"What are you doing up?" Danny decided to ask.

"Time to change shifts...It's already been three hours," Sam explained stretching. "You need to get some sleep too, you know."

"Huh...I didn't even notice..." Danny muttered and by Paulina's shocked face neither had she. "Who's staying up with you?"

"I am," Jazz said sitting up. "You two get some sleep."

Danny, suddenly feeling tired, nodded his head and after a quick kiss on the cheek from Sam he laid down while Paulina just got in her sleeping bag near Dash where she stared at his sleeping face (which looked better in her eyes than it actually was) until she fell asleep.

"So, how are you holding up, Jazz?" Sam asked and Jazz shrugged her shoulders.

"About as well one can expect," Jazz told her smiling sadly. "I guess I never really expected Plasmius to close his own portal to get rid of us."

"I know how you feel...It was like a part of me died when Danny moved the stupid giant football to reveal empty space." Sam squeezed Jazz's hand comfortingly. "I could tell the Froot Loop was getting worse since Maddie's rejection, but to go this far..."

"We always knew he was insane," Jazz said. "But, a part always thought Vlad would finally get over it...He did in that alternate future, didn't he?"

"You mean the one with Dan?" Sam asked quietly making complete sure Danny couldn't hear them. "Danny said he did, but he had to lose everything first before he could reach that point. It's too bad when you think about it...Vlad could have been a very comforting figure in Danny's life he just put his past behind him."

"The plan's to go to the Far Frozen next, right?" Jazz asked changing the depressing subject. "Do you have any idea how we are getting there?"

"Not a clue...I think Danny's hoping for something to show up so we won't have to reveal our secrets."

"I still don't understand why he just won't let us...It would make defeating our enemies so much easier..."

"To be honest, I think Danny's afraid of everyone's reaction. A lot has happened since the last time people found out and while our classmates might see Danny as a hero, I'm not sure about your parents anymore."

"They wouldn't reject Danny; they love him too much to reject him."

"Maybe, maybe not." Sam shrugged. "Either way Danny's afraid, but his other reasons are quite valid. I wouldn't be surprised if Plasmius was the one sending those waves of enemies at us...He might even be goading us into transforming."

"But, why? I mean we transform enough in the human world..."

"You'd have to ask Danny," Sam replied. "He's the one that understands Plasmius the best."

"I guess, but I can't help but think that as Mind Bridge I might have been able to prevent some of those injuries from happening..."

"You can't blame yourself for those...Each injury happened in a way that even if we were transformed it wouldn't have made a difference."

"The thing is that I think Plasmius is trying to seriously injure your classmates," jazz said seriously.

"What makes you say that?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.

"When you guys went to the portal, Valerie told me that Skulker left at just about the same time Kwan's leg was bitten off by that tiger," Jazz said grimly. "She said told me she basically lost the fight, but then suddenly he just left saying play time is over."

"But, why would he want to hurt the A-list? I can understand Jack but..." Sam trailed off and Jazz shook her head.

"I don't know why either, but we better keep a better eye on them if they really are being targeted..."

The two sat in grim silence until morning (or at least what they _thought _was morning) before waking everyone up. "I need more firewood," Maddie said looking at their fire. "Could a couple people get some more?"

"I'll go," Tucker volunteered when Valerie gave him a "you better help" look.

"Me too," Dash reluctantly agreed when he saw Paulina give him the same look.

The two set off into the woods in awkward silence before Tucker no longer could take it. "How's the arm?" Tucker asked finally.

"Works great," Dash said shortly. "It's got a nasty punch."

"You're not going to punch me are you?"

"I've thought about it, but surprisingly no..." Dash smirked. "I don't even get why you're afraid...I've seen you and Fenton fight the last couple of days. You two could kick my butt if you wanted! Why don't you do that?"

"We don't fight humans Dash," Tucker explained annoyed. '_Except for criminals now and then...'_

"Yeah well you two should think about joining the football team!" Dash said before slapping his face in disbelief. "I can't believe I just said that about you and Fenton..."

"Trust me; I'm as shocked as you are!" Tucker laughed and Dash punched his shoulder with his regular arm. "But, I don't think Danny and I will be joining any time soon!"

"Too bad...There's going to be two spots open soon."

"Why?"

"You think they'll let me play with this arm or let Kwan play with that leg?" Dash asked bitterly. "No, my football days are officially over..."

"Oh...Wow, dude...I can't even imagine..." Tucker said at a loss for words; for as long as he's know Dash Baxter and Kwan Ming they've only thought about football, so to lose that is just...wow...

"It really sucks, you know? I mean my scholarships are out the window now," Dash said clenching his fists in aggravation.

"Oh man, and with your grades..."

"Yeah...Hey! Wait! What do you mean _my _grades?" Dash asked confused. "I'm a B student!"

"You_ are_?" Tucker asked in disbelief. "But..."

Dash rolled his eyes at the techno-geek. "I've gotta have a B average at least to stay on the team, you know! Why do you think I always got so hacked off when I failed? Sheesh..."

"But, you're not...I mean that's to say...Well, you've just never seem that smart to me!" Tucker blurted out and Dash glared at him sharply making Tucker gulp. However, the glare was ruined when Dash burst into guffaws of laughter.

"Dude! You should have seen your face!" Dash laughed slapping him on the back. "Okay, look I know I'm not the smartest guy around, but that's why I've always got tutors!"

"Huh...So, what are you planning to do in college?" Tucker asked deciding he didn't want to get in how stupid Dash was before the former jock decided to beat him up.

"Well, I was thinking of going pro with football..."

"But now?"

"I was thinking about being a cop," Dash answered honestly and Tucker nearly tripped in surprise.

"You? Big bully Dash? A _cop_?"

"Sounds weird when you say it like that," Dash admitted sardonically. "But, I like the idea, so I'm going for it."

Tucker could only mock groan. "Just what we needed! Another dirty cop!"

"Ha ha ha! You are so funny, Foley!" Dash said sarcastically. "I forgot to laugh!"

"No, you didn't," Tucker pointed out. "You did it at the beginning of your sentence."

Dash rolled his eyes as he picked up the last bit of firewood they would need, and the two headed back to camp.

Still Dash and Paulina had to admit that the geeks weren't that bad...Still geeks though.

* * *

><p><strong>AN2: So, this chapter starts the second arc: Journey to the Far Frozen.**

**As I've said, this arc won't be quite as laid back as the previous one, so I thought I'd start the first chapter on a bit of a breather just to ease your way in. Next chapter will have a battle with surprising (or maybe not) consequences.**

**The main purpose of this chapter was character development for Paulina and Dash...Their lives have been flipped upside down since coming in here, and I wanted to really focus on that by how different they treated the so-called losers. I gave a little bit in previous chapters, but I feel this is the first time you really seriously can feel the difference compared to the first chapter...I'm not kidding. Go back and read how their written in chapter one compared to how they are now.**

**I know it seems fast being only the eighth chapter, but I feel like enough has happened to them where it doesn't feel completely one-eightied.**

**Please leave reviews as I love hearing everyone's thoughts on my chapters (except flames, but constructive criticism is always nice).  
><strong>


	9. Arc II: Mutiny

**A/N: Sorry about the wait, but real life sucks so what can I say? The good news is that I hopefully made up for it by the length of this chapter...The bad news is that I don't know how well I did because my fight scene seemed kind of weak (I plan to buff it up later if you want me to).**

**Also, I should warn you that this chapter will NOT be a nice one to Sam and I feel this one more than any other earns the "M" rating although no rape was involved (nor will there be, the M rating will ALWAYS be because of violence and nothing else. This means I will not writing lemons, so don't expect any.**

**DISCLAIMER: I _STILL _DON'T OWN DANNY PHANTOM!**

* * *

><p><strong>Mutiny<strong>

A light groan reverberated two days later causing everyone to pause mid speech as they were about to begin breakfast. Star was on her feet in a second as she rushed to her boyfriend with tears of joy. "Kwan! You're awake!" Star cried happily, but Kwan could mumble something. "What was that, Sweetie?"

"Water..." Kwan rasped out licking his dry lips and Dash handed Star a glass of water. Without waiting she tilted Kwan's head up and slowly began to pour into his mouth. Halfway through however, he grabbed the glass and just chugged the rest impatiently.

"Uh! I shouldn't have done that," Kwan muttered coughing a little as his girlfriend rubbed his back. "What...What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Star asked nervously remembering how she still couldn't remember exactly what happened to her eye.

"Well...I remember a tiger biting my leg and a lot of pain, but nothing else," Kwan said and Star flinched a little. "My leg feels funny though..."

Kwan tried to scratch it only to hit metal. "W-What happened to my leg?" He yelped in shock.

"The tiger bit it off," Valerie said carefully. "We had to replace it like Dash's arm..."

The Asian jock just stared at his robotic leg in pure disbelief...He couldn't comprehend what had happened to him. It seemed impossible that he could actually lose his leg after everything he put into becoming a football player, but here he was one limb down. Added with how overprotective his mom could be and how she must be freaking out back on Earth, he couldn't see how things could get any worse.

He stared at his sobbing girlfriend and his heart lightened a little when it looked like she wasn't going to dump him for this artificial body part. He truly did love the girl and he would have been devastated if she broke up with him...He loved her with his whole heart. His short relationship with Valerie didn't compare to this...He was hoping to actually _propose _to her if their relationship went beyond high school.

Next he turned to Danny Fenton who was looking at him with more pain than even _he _felt...He could practically feel the guilt flowing from the boy. He didn't understand why he felt that way...The group had been severely outnumbered from what he remembered and there was nothing he could do. Hell even if Amity Park's superheroes were there he probably would have still been hurt! There's only so much that people could do!

After all, if superheroes could beat everybody than nobody would die in comics!

Kwan was relieved that some of his guilt evaporated when Manson took his hand. She was looking at him like she was trying to convey that he shouldn't even _dare _to blame Fenton for what happened. Well no worries there because he didn't...Like his doctor dad told him, "sometimes these things just happen and there's nothing you could do to stop it." Granted he told him that in junior year when he sprained his ankle before a big game and couldn't play, but he felt it was appropriate here too.

Next he turned to Foley who was hugging from Valerie from behind as he looked at him with pity. He didn't like the look, but didn't bother to say anything to him. He was just glad he could be there for Val...Even though he and Val no longer dated they had long made up and kept at least a pretty good friendship. Over the last couple of years, he had to _constantly _hear about how great Foley was, and no matter how much he scoffed at her for it she never relented. Today proved just how wrong he was about the techno-geek...The way he comforted his ex-girlfriend so tenderly really put him in a new light.

Valerie's tears probably bothered him more than anything else though; for as long as he had known the girl she _never _cried. No, Valerie bottled up her emotions and pushed them into a reckless rage that he wasn't shocked when she told him and Star that she hated Danny Phantom. However, ever since she began to date Tucker he noticed that she seemed to show her emotions a lot more appropriately than before, and that creeped him out. The idea that ghosts are real was honestly a lot easier to swallow than the idea that Valerie Gray could _cry_!

Unable to stand the sight, he turned to Paulina and flinched slightly when he saw her burn scar. She wasn't really looking at him, but more looking at Star with a helpless expression. He better than most knew how much Star really mattered to the girl, but even he didn't realize she cared this much. Paulina truly loved Star like no one else...It wasn't romantic of course, but love nonetheless. He was glad that she cared for his girlfriend so much because during that little bit Paulina was overshadowed to date Fenton (which he _still _doesn't understand), Star had been crushed when her best friend ignored her.

Carefully, he put his arm around Star and pulled her close to her chest. His girlfriend shuddered slightly as she sighed softly against his muscular chest. She closed her eye and her sobs turned into quiet tears, but she seemed to finally calm down a little. Paulina smiled a little at him obviously happy with his actions.

Returning the smile quickly, he turned to the last person grouped around him, his best buddy ol' pal Dash. Just like Paulina, he looked completely hopeless, but unlike the Latino Dash was looking at his leg. He kept clenching and unclenching his fists a sure sign of him trying to stop himself from getting angry (most likely at himself). Kwan couldn't stand to see that...Dash had always been so confident and strong that his expression just didn't suit him.

"Well looks like I'm off the team too, huh?" Kwan joked weakly causing Dash to snort against his will.

"Like that'd be a big loss," Dash retorted showing his old cocky smirk. "You're replicable unlike my golden arm!"

Kwan snorted at him causing everyone to snicker slightly. "The golden arm that made us lose at state!"

"I was having an off night!"

"No, you were having a _good _night...We actually _win _when you have an off night!"

"That's rich coming from you Mr. Fumble-the-ball-all-the-way-to-the-other-team's-goal-post!"

"One time!"

"Every game!"

"Well, I wouldn't fumble if you could actually throw!"

"You did it when Johnson replaced me last year for a week too!"

"But, Johnson _sucks_!"

"That's true..." Dash said thoughtfully as the two former jocks bickered back and forth while the rest were laughing. Star had even stopped crying unable to stop her giggling while Paulina looked at Dash fondly. "Either way, we're still better than the cheerleaders!"

"Totally."

"WHAT?" Star and Paulina screeched offended; Star couldn't stop herself from pulling back to glare at her airheaded boyfriend.

"You football players wouldn't be anywhere without us!" Star yelled clearly offended.

"You're games wouldn't, like, get half as many people without us!" Paulina added. "Heck, half of, like, the people come to just watch us super cute and completely _hot _cheerleaders cheer!"

Dash and Kwan snorted in disbelief. "People go to football games to watch football, Paulina," Dash retorted.

"Yeah, the cheerleaders are just a bonus," Kwan added.

"I just go to laugh at both of you," Sam piped in causing all four A-listers to glare at her.

"Since when do you go to football games?" Paulina asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Since we realized it was great for laughs." Danny laughed. "Remember that time Smith and Brady got their helmets stuck together, Tuck?"

"Remember? I still have it saved to my computer!"

"It's true and he's even added music to it," Valerie told them snorting with laughter. "It's twice as funny with the chicken song!"

Even the popular teens couldn't stop laughing as they remembered that particular game...It was just too funny! It took a good five minutes for everyone to calm down and Kwan was pleased to see that no one really looked sad anymore, but he suddenly realized something. "Why aren't we back home?" Kwan asked and instantly the smiles turned into frowns.

"The portal's gone," Danny said sighing.

"How are we getting off this floating island then?" Kwan asked and everyone turned to him obviously wanting to know the same thing.

"Mom and Dad are by where the portal used to be trying to see if they could come up with something to open a portal to Earth from this side while Jazz and Mr. Lancer are on look out to see if any small moving islands will be closing in or anything else."

"And, if not?" Valerie asked.

"I have a couple of other ideas..." Danny said giving them significant looks; obviously if they can't leave soon they'll have to reveal themselves. Danny was completely against this afraid of what Plasmius might pull and the fact that he can only fly so far carrying someone. Back on Earth, holding someone wasn't really a problem, but in the Ghost Zone there is far too much ectoplasm around him for his body to not be toxic to others.

It, in his opinion, is probably one of the greatest drawbacks to becoming a very power ghost.

"Speaking of the others," Sam said pointing out as Jazz came rushing to them with the adults closely behind. "Here they come."

Jazz slid to a stop catching her breath as Mr. Lancer and jack collapsed in a heap while Maddie merely huffed a little. "What's going on?" Danny asked raising an eyebrow.

"Young...Youngblood's ship is nearby!" Jazz rasped out and Danny, Sam, Tucker and Valerie couldn't help but beam at that.

"What about the portal?" Tucker asked because they won't have to go on the ship if they could make their own portal, but unfortunately Maddie shook her head.

"It's a no go...There isn't enough tech or energy to open the portal," Maddie explained. "We can't use ectoplasm to open a portal from this side."

"Then we'll hitch a ride with Jake...I mean Youngblood," Danny decided. "He's a buddy of ours so he's sure to give us a free ride out of here...He should be able to take almost all the way to the Far Frozen!"

"But, how are we going to get his attention?" Maddie asked confused before noticing that Kwan awake. "Oh, you're awake, Kwan! I'm glad...I was beginning to worry young man!"

"I'm sorry ma'am," Kwan said feeling a little...off foot at her addressing him.

"Do you still have a flare shot, Valerie?" Danny asked ignoring Kwan and his mother.

"Of course...I haven't had a reason to use it before now," Valerie pointed out.

"Good then go fire it off," Danny ordered before turning to Jazz. "How long should it take for them to reach us?"

"About two hours from what I can tell, but Valerie needs to hurry the shot because they weren't coming this way." Valerie saluted and ran across the stone bridge to where she could see Youngblood's ship; her gun was out instantly and she fired off the flare.

"_Danny, the ship is turning around,_" Valerie said using Team Phantom's communicator.

"_Roger that,_" Danny said tapping the ear piece.

"What was that?" Paulina asked confused and Danny pulled out a little ear piece.

"Tucker recently made us these communicators," Danny explained. "Right now only Val and I have them because there weren't enough proper parts and we called dibs, but let's forget about that. We've got about two hours to kill before the ship arrives, so Kwan should begin to practice with that leg."

As instructed, Kwan began to practice as Tucker and Jazz instructed him for using his leg; unlike Dash's arm they couldn't add power _or _speed to it since it was only one leg...At least not normally. It can build up power for kicks, but that was it really. That's why instead he was forced to learn how to crawl, walk and then run with it for the next couple of hours while everyone else was packing up the camp.

"There's something strange about this," Jazz said to Tucker as she turned away from a running Kwan.

"What?"

"There's something strange going on here...Kwan shouldn't have adapted to his leg this easily! Most people that get prosthetics take days if not _weeks_ to adapt, but Kwan's doing it in mere _hours_!" Jazz told him pulling her hair annoyed. "It's just not possible! And, that's not even accounting for Star's miraculous survival with the pipe and somehow I think she might be the reason dad survived!"

"Now that you mention it...Dash adapted to his arm unbelievably fast and the fact that Paulina survived long enough after getting burned like she did is nothing short of miraculous," Tucker mused wide eyed. "I mean come one, half of Paulina's body was burned crisp and yet she survived at least fifteen minutes without dying. Do you think this is why Plasmius is after them?"

"I think it has something to do with it," Jazz confirmed. "But, how would this benefit him? It doesn't _heal _them whatever it is, but rather it just keeping them alive and letting their bodies adapt faster..."

"Who knows...Maybe he's got some plan to create more Halfas?" Tucker suggested shrugging. "After all it did take him at least a year to adapt and Danny took a few months at _least _to adapt to his powers. He might need the survival powers to ensure they survive the transformation."

"It's possible, but it feels like we're missing something...Something important to whatever it is they have," Jazz mused frustrated. "I can tell that these abilities aren't superpowers like we have...It's more like they're just _there_ to be there. Like they are completely natural or something, but that's not possible because it's obviously abnormal. It's...It's like its part of them, but not really and yet _is_!"

"You're not making much sense, Jazz."

"I can't really explain it...All I can tell is that whatever those abilities are they aren't controllable. It's like they just exist in them and they only played a part in their bodies' survival and adaption. It can NOT heal them..."

"Well, no point in worrying about it right now," Tucker said shouldering his bag as Youngblood's ship finally stopped above them and dropped a rope ladder. "We should get going."

"Yeah, the sooner we get off here the better," Jazz agreed as she walked over to the group.

"You know...I think this boat looks familiar..." Dash said thoughtfully.

"Well, yeah...It _is _the ship that kidnapped our parents four years ago," Danny said with a slight chuckle causing the A-list and adults faces to brighten in recognition.

"The Subtle Knife!" Mr. Lancer exclaimed. "Why are we getting on then? If he's an evil ghost..."

"Oh, Youngblood's not evil," Sam told them. "He's just a little kid who was a bit lonely and admittedly didn't like adults, but he's a friend of ours now. You just have to play along with his game while on board and he'll give us a free ride."

"What kind of game?" Paulina asked confused.

"A pirate game of course!" Danny laughed climbing up the ladder and soon everyone followed. Once on board they saw the usual bunch of pirate skeletons swabbing the deck and refilling cannons.

"Ah! There ya be! Fer a second I tho Jacob's ladder didna reach you!" One of the skeletons said stopping mid stroke. "Captain's in his quarters, so I would hurry along if I be ye!"

Danny nodded as he beckoned the group to follow him only to almost walk into a female ghost pirate. "Oh! I be sorry first mate Danny!" The ghost girl apologized instantly with a blush.

"'Tis fine Mary...Jus' be careful 'ere ye be walking," Danny said to Mary Harvey instantly switching to the best pirate speak he could do.

"O'...O' course," Mary stuttered as she quite obviously was "checking him out" until Sam cleared her throat loudly.

"Hello Mary," Sam said grabbing Danny's hand with a smirk that made the ghost girl scowl.

"Samantha," Mary grit out jealously causing Sam's smirk to widen in satisfaction. "Why be ye here?"

"Why would she nay be here?" Danny asked confused looking at the two.

"Clueless," Tucker muttered to Valerie who had to stifle a laugh.

"Yeah, I be _always _wi' Danny," Sam said putting her head on Danny's shoulder releasing a sigh of content.

"It dasn't matter," Mary said glaring at Sam. "You ortin' ta hade up t' captain's quarters now...Ye know how he gets when waiting."

"Okay, 't be nice seein' ye Mary," Danny said as the group headed off.

"Goodbye Danny...Samantha," Mary said sweetly to Danny and spitefully to Sam before muttering under her breath. "She'll be th' first I get rid of."

"Man, I hate talking like that," Danny said. "I'm really no good at pirate speak."

Sam snorted. "I doubt she did much better than you."

"Do you not like Mary, Sam?" Danny asked causing _everyone _to roll their eyes.

"Clueless," they all muttered.

"No one on this ship speaks _good _pirate lingo anyway," Tucker said deciding he didn't want to deal with more of Danny's cluelessness after dealing with the painfully cluelessness of Sam and him liking each other. "Especially Youngblood who still needs to be instructed on the right words."

"Hey! Don't let him hear you say that," Danny whispered. "Last time he did you had to spend the whole time swabbing the deck."

"Oh you don't have to worry about that, hah ha!" Everyone spun around to see a ghostly Freakshow standing there with Lydia smirking.

About two years ago, Frederich Isak Showenheimer's ghost envy finally hit its when he couldn't even hope to keep up with his wife Lydia, and thus finally committed suicide to be on par with her. Which ironically, he's _not_ as he's Class-C ghost while she is a Class-B ghost thus making her the stronger one; she still follows his orders however.

"Frea—" Danny was cut off when a group of ghost skeletons pushed the group into the captain's quarters.

"Nighty night, hah ha!" Freakshow screamed from the other side of the door and before anyone could say anything people began to pass out.

"What did you...do..." Danny yelled banging on the door before he too passed out.

"Ugh...My head," Danny groaned as he tried to reach his forehead only for his arm to get stuck on chains; unfortunately, they seemed to be ghost proof as turning intangible didn't work.

"Dude, you're awake!" Danny heard someone say and he saw Youngblood looking at him in relief. "Jake...Where are we?"

"I told you my name is _Youngblood_!" Youngblood insisted but Danny just waived him off. "And, we're in a holding cell at the bottom of the ship."

Danny nodded; he should have known since he helped build the place. He looked around and saw everyone was there...Everyone except _Sam_. "What's going on? Where's Sam?"

"I don't know where Sammy is," Youngblood said a little apologetically, but to be honest he didn't really understand why he cared so much. Most girls were _icky _and full of _cooties_! "And, half of my crew mutinied! It's so...so...so _cool_! No one's mutinied before!"

"You are a crazy kid," Paulina declared having woken up like everyone else before Danny. "Your ship was just taken over and they have you chained up and you think it's _cool_? Trust me, I know cool and this isn't it!"

"Why are we still alive?" Kwan asked grimly. "Everyone else seemed ready to kill us, but the one that manages to get us lets us live? How cartoon evil can you get?"

Tucker snorted. "Freakshow wouldn't off us without it being a spectacular show! He's such a show off..."

"How are we getting out of this Fentina?" Dash asked looking at the leader, but for once Danny wasn't sure since he couldn't escape as a ghost and he was too busy worrying about Sam anyway.

"I don't kn—" Danny paused mid sentence as a loud _clink_ resounded around the room and everyone turned to see Star's cuffs hanging on the wall free of her wrists. "Did they forget to lock yours, Star?"

"Well...I sort of know how to pick locks..." Star trailed off blushing as even _Kwan _looked shocked.

"Why would you know how to pick locks?" Jazz asked in disbelief.

"Well...Okay, so my daddy likes to lock me out of the house when I come home late, so I learned how to break in! Honest!" Star assured them, but everyone looked at her a little unsure. "Oh, come on! Why would I steal when my daddy can buy anything I want?"

She wasn't sure if she should be insulted or not that they believed her after saying that, but just rolled with it as she walked over to Paulina and began to pick her lock. Twenty minutes later everyone found they were free of confinement. "Now let's get out of—"

Danny was cut off as the jail door opened and the skeleton who greeted them on the poop deck walking in with a boney smile. "Hello there captain," the ghost spoke normally to Youngblood as everyone quickly made it look like they were stick shackled.

"Hello _Percy_," Youngblood said laughing and everyone started laughing as well.

"Dude, your name's Percy?" Tucker asked smirking.

"Like your name's any better Promethesis Tucker Foley!" Percy snapped and Tucker stared at him in disbelief.

"Dude! How do you know that name? The _government _doesn't even know that!" Tucker exclaimed not understanding how anyone could know his real first name...He had erased all traces of his first name when he was in _second grade_!

"What are you doing here, Percy?" Danny asked containing his laughter at his best friend's real name.

"Ah...I just came to see my stupid captain one last time before he walks the plank," Percy said smirking at the boy he rebelled against. "Little brat will be thrown straight into Hell's pit as soon as we reach it in a few days!"

"Dude, you can't!" Youngblood exclaimed wide eyed.

"Now now, don't be afraid cap—"

"Dude, I'm sure it will be totally radical down there!" Youngblood said causing Danny to nearly face palm. "No, what I mean is my ship isn't _allowed _near there anymore after I dumped all that juice down the pit and caused most of the fire to go out!"

"Excuse me, but what is Hell's pit?" Mr. Lancer asked not sure if he'll like the answer.

"It's the pit of Hell of course," Percy said smiling. "Only one way down and no escape...Anyone that goes there becomes a demon forced into servitude and torture."

"And, you are going to throw a kid in there?" Maddie screeched angrily. "That's _sick_!"

"Sick? _Sick_? You want to know what's sick?" Percy screamed at her. "What's sick is following a child captain who is only playing pretend! We're not even REAL pirates! We're nothing but a game to him! An eight year old bosses me around! Well, no more! I will follow Freakshow from now on and we'll actually become real pirates on Earth! Our names will be infamous!"

"Dude, you're insane!" Danny exclaimed.

"Oh and what are you going to do about it? We took your stupid weapons to the armory and anyone loyal to you is in all of the other holding cells by the top of the ship!"

"Where is Sam," Danny asked angrily but was secretly grinning. _'This guy is complete and total cliché villain...Seriously, who actually tells the captives their plans? No wonder these guys weren't real pirates before...They have no idea what it means to be a real one if they are going to spew off info like that!_'

"Oh, your _girlfriend_?" Percy mocked with a cocky smirk...There was nothing these prisoners could do to him anyway. "Last I heard she was taken to the kitchen for some special _fun_!"

"You bastard!" Danny snarled and before Percy knew what happened to him Danny stood up and punched him in the face. The ghost skeleton didn't even get a chance to recover before Danny grabbed the back of his head and scraped it across the wooden pillar and scrape across the wooden floor before he locked him into his shackles. Bloodied and cut up he could only stare at Danny in shock.

"H-How?"

"Turns out one of my friend's can pick locks," Danny said smirking at the horror on his face. "What's the matter? Did you just realize you told me everything I needed to know? Well, thank you very much Mr. _Pirate_!"

With that Danny stalked off and out the door while everyone else followed with a stunned look. They knew Danny was tough, but that was ridiculous how easily he took their guard down. On the other hand, the A-list and adults realized, Danny _does _take down the most ghosts in their fights or the stronger ones.

They met their first obstacle at the end of the hallway when they realized it was locked shut and there were two guards (obviously the ones who let Percy in) on the other side. "What are we going to do?" Tucker asked quietly watching the door warily.

"Let us take of that," Maddie said as she pointed to herself and Jack; before Danny could object Jack charged at the door and with a massive tackle busted the metal door right off its hinges. Before the ghosts could react to the sudden attack, Maddie kicked one in the face followed up by a headbutt to knock it out as Jack used the door to squish the poor ghost who passed out instantly.

"Whoo! Go mom and dad!" Jazz cheered and everyone cheered in agreement.

"That was _AWESOME_!" Youngblood exclaimed starry eyed. "I'm going to eat as much as I can so I can grow big like him and crush people! I could be a wrestler!"

Danny would have snorted if he wasn't too busy running up the stairs like a man possessed and before anyone could tell him to slow down he kicked the next door in making everyone wonder how strong Danny really is (well everyone except Team Phantom. "Hurry it up!" Danny snarled at them. "The armory is on this floor! We are taking them back and then we are going to take back the ship!"

Danny didn't even bother to wait as he bolted down the hallway; by the time everyone caught up with him he was already in the armory holding his scythe while the five or so ghosts guarding it laid on the ground passed out and the metal door literally smashed down.

"Oh, good you've got the shipment," Valerie said looking at all of the ecto-bullets as she was nearly out.

Ecto-bullets were a one of a kind bullet created by a ghost named Jolly Roger who would only do deals with Youngblood since he likes the kid; due to this Youngblood ships the bullets to Valerie and the team as long as they play pretend with him every month for at least a whole day.

"Yup, I was on my way for a visit when the mutiny happened!" Youngblood said cheerfully as Valerie took a few clips while the rest grabbed their own weapons.

"Great, now we just needed to get to the kitchen where I can—"

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Danny," Tucker cut off and Danny glared venomously at him.

"Why not?"

"You're too riled up...Who knows what might be happening Sam," Tucker said dangerously. "What if your hotheaded actions make things _worse_ for her instead?"

"I...Then what do you suggest I do?"

"You can take one group top side to go to battle and keep the treasonous crew busy; with any luck the chaos you cause may end up making Sam's captors leave her alone so we can get her out without problems." Danny grit his teeth at Tucker and turned around displeased.

"Dad, Paulina and Jazz let's go," Danny ordered stalking out without saying a word; he couldn't stand the idea of leaving Sam alone when she was obviously in trouble and it was gnawing at him continuously. Since everyone would obviously block his path to Sam and said girl would not be happy if he beat them up to get through he decided he'll take the whole freaking mutinous crew down to show why they should not PISS HIM OFF!

The three mentioned were just about to follow obviously put off by the boy's attitude and temper, but going to follow to make sure he didn't hurt himself. "Stay safe," Maddie mumbled across Jack's lips as they kissed and Jack nodded.

"Paulina, you be careful, alright?" Dash said looking down on the girl.

"Don't worry Dash," Paulina assured him and she kissed his cheek before rushing out.

"See you guys in a few!" Jazz yelled as she hurried after her brother.

"Good, now Kwan, Maddie and Valerie will go find Sam," Tucker explained.

"Why us?" Kwan asked.

"Well, like how Danny took the ones that will fight better outside you three are the fastest ones here, so you'd be perfect to run around the ship looking for Sam if they move her," Tucker explained seriously. "Plus Star, I and Youngblood here would be best suited for rescuing the loyal members of the crew since Youngblood's captain, I'm familiar and Star's skilled at picking locks. Mr. Lancer and Dash would just be better off coming with us."

"Oh...Okay," Kwan said as he turned to his girlfriend and looked at her seriously. "Stay safe...I couldn't bear if anything else happened to you."

"That goes for you too," Star whispered looking at his leg causing Kwan to smile bitterly.

"Yeah, I guess we've all got our scrapes now." Star smiled sadly at him before she placed a soft feathery kiss against his strong powerful lips; she tried with all her might to let her feelings flow out of that one kiss: her worries, her regrets and most importantly, her love.

"I'm counting on you to find Sam, Valerie," Tucker said as the two embraced before stepping back calmly...This temporary split up did not bother them much since it wasn't any serious fights they were going to.

Dash was still a bit out of it from Paulina's completely _free _kiss on the cheek...He didn't have to score a touchdown, or be her date at some important school or social even.

Mr. Lancer sighed as he thought how he was just the tag along, but was still glad he didn't have to run around while Maddie stretched her muscles a little.

Maddie, Valerie and Kwan stepped out of the room as Valerie explained that the kitchen is usually around the middle of the ship and furthest from the deck. "Does Foley really think Manson will be moved?" Kwan asked seriously.

"Not really, but he isn't going to take any chances," Valerie assured her.

'_I hope you are okay Sam..._' Maddie thought sadly as the trio rushed up the stairs with the other group following close behind.

"Well, Samantha I ben enjoyin' our wee game, be havin' ye?" Mary Harvey asked with a sadistic smile as she held the bloody knife. "Oh, now why ye be cryin'?"

Sam was hung to the wall like she was crucified with her hands nailed in and ankles nailed together; her mouth was gagged preventing Sam from using any spells as well as retorting. Her shirt had been removed leaving her in a black bra and just over her left breast a heart had been carved into her skin with "harlot" written inside it. Across her bare stomach "witch" was carved in while her inner thighs (which were no long covered by her pants) had "call girl" carved into them.

"No answer? How rude Samantha? Didna yer mother teach ye manners? Nay? Then maybe I ortin' ta teach ye a thin' or two..." Mary said to the fearful looking Sam as she put the knife on the stove and waited for it to turn burning hot; she couldn't stop her smirk as she picked the knife up and pressed it across her face as Sam tried to scream in pain.

"Oh me, I canna imagine how much that hurts, but 'tis fer yer own good...Ye be seein' ye be nay 'ere near proper a lass fer Danny! Ye`re nothin' but a disgustin', wee call girl an' ye be punished fer that..." Mary turned the blade as she slowly cut across her cheek with vindictive pleasure. She was one second away from reaching her left eye when Mary's hand was shot away causing the knife to go flying across the room.

The treasonous pirate girl whirled around to see Star holding her gun as she had a very ugly look on her face mixed with horror and fury. "I won't let you get that close to her again!" Valerie snarled furiously as her next shot blasted the girl's hand back.

Valerie rushed forward and kicked the down pirate in the face while Maddie and Kwan rushed over to the tearful Sam. The first thing Maddie did was remove the gag. "You pirate BITCH! ONCE I'M DOWN FROM HERE I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! YOU HERE ME? I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOU KNOW JUST WHAT IT MEANS TO BE IN PAIN!" Sam exploded furiously as she ignored the pain of Maddie and Kwan pulling the nails out.

Once her hands and feet were freed she fell to the floor, but instantly Valerie, Maddie and Kwan backed up as their very basic instincts called to them. Energy seemed to crinkle around Sam as black cloak wrapped around her ominously.

"You wished to show me what pain is?" Sam's voice said...except it sounded like there was another voice in there. It was dark and ominous; it made all the hairs on Kwan's body literally stand on end. "Well, you weren't even close to what TRUE pain is you little wench! I'll show you the true meaning of it right now! _Spiritus Ignis_!"

The three humans could only watch in horror and disbelief as Sam literally breathed fire upon the ghost as Mary screamed in pain as she roasted alive. "Oh, I'm not done! _Fulmen_!"

A blast of lightning struck the ghost girl straight between the eyes in fury and Mary passed out from the unbelievable pain (had she been alive she would be a dead by now). "Oh, no you don't get to sleep! WAKE UP!" "Sam" screamed furiously as she slapped the girl across the face...with a hand that had fire wrapped around it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Mary screamed in pain as the hand print literally burned into her face.

"Goody! You're awake!" "Sam" said with a sadistic happiness. "Now I can _kill _you while you're awake!"

"Please have mercy..." Mary panted with tears lining her face and the three humans could only watch in horror at what was happening before them. Something was wrong with Sam...It was like she was possessed! Or overshadowed! Or whatever they called it!

"Mercy?" "Sam" laughed sardonically. "Okay, I'll show you mercy...I'll show you the same amount you showed my host! _Fulmen_! _Fulmen_! _Fulmen_! _Fulmen_! _Fulmen_!"

Mary screamed in pain as lightning pierced her hands and feet before piercing through her skull once more. "And now, say goodbye to your existence and even your soul! There shall be no heaven or hell for the sins you have done to me, Hecate the queen of all witches! _Niger Ignis_!"

Mary screamed as she was engulfed in a black flame that incinerated everything. Even her _soul_ was completely destroyed. "And, now you are gone you little wench!" Hecate laughed superiorly before turning to three humans. "What do you need humans?"

The three just continued to stare at her in awe, horror and fear much to Hecate's chagrin. "Speak now or I shall make that wench's treatment kinder by comparison!"

"S-Sam?" Maddie finally choked out.

"Oh, sorry Sam's not in right now," Hecate mocked clutching her heart and she scowled when she realized her magic was not healing her fast enough to prevent scarring...In fact, she began to feel drained.

"Who..._What _are you?" Kwan asked stunned as he nearly wet himself in fear.

"I—" Hecate never had a chance to finish whatever she was going to say as she fell to the ground in a dead heap; no one approached her as they feared it to be a trick.

"Oh my head," the girl groaned with a lighter and sweeter voice that Maddie instantly recognized as her son's girlfriend's voice.

"Sam..." Maddie said hesitantly as she carefully stood by the cloaked girl, but kept her distance knowing it could be a trap.

"Mrs. Fenton...What happened? I remember screaming at that...that _harlot_ and next thing I know I'm waking up on the floor," Sam explained as she rubbed her eyes due to having a serious migraine all of the sudden, but suddenly she noticed her cloaked state as well as the fearful look upon Maddie's face. "Damn it! She woke up! I knew she was far too groggy after what happened at Pandora's, but I was hoping she had fallen more asleep..."

"Sam..._What _was that?" Maddie finally asked incomprehensibly. "What are you?"

"I...I'm a witch," Sam finally admitted. "I am the reincarnation of Hecate the queen of all witches, but we have two different consciouses. When my power was awakened by force it awoke her mind, but luckily she's asleep most the time unless I use to much magical power or I let my emotions get to powerful when she's already half awake...Tell me what spell did she use?"

"Some black flame..." Kwan shuddered at the memory of it, but Sam breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's one of her most powerful spells, so she should have exhausted herself again..." Sam said relieved and she sighed when she felt the sleeping consciousness of Hecate. "She's sound asleep again, so we're back in the clear."

Kwan disagreed; no matter what Sam said he would never forget what he saw here today and what Sam could do. That power was so dangerous and _evil_; if witches were like that a long time ago he can't blame people for wanting them dead. No, he didn't want Sam dead, but should that spirit awaken again he won't feel any remorse to see her go.

"Okay, now can someone explain what's going on?" Sam asked and everyone jolted with realization that it wasn't over yet.

"We're almost there," Tucker told them and Mr. Lancer was glad because he was seriously out of breath; he'll never understand the stamina these kids have to just keep going!

"Will Fenton be okay up there?" Dash asked as he ran.

"It almost sounds like your worried, Dash," Tucker teased making the former jock blush slightly.

"Shut...Shut up! I'm just worried because Paulina's with him," he defended himself though a part of him (a very, _very _small part) was worried about Danny as well.

"With how mad he is?" Youngblood laughed. "They'll be fine as long as they stay out of his way! Dude's going to kick butt!"

"Yeah, Danny will be taking this fight _very _seriously...Not only does this one ensure whether or not we stay on the boat, but after what Percy said Sam is suffering? Danny is going to go ballistic on them!"

"He wasn't taking the other fights seriously?" Star asked feeling a little anger.

"Danny took those fights seriously, but unfortunately you guys are a bit of a liability not being well versed in combat that he tries to help where he can," Tucker told them carefully. "Trust me you'd be a lot more hurt if he wasn't keeping an eye open."

Mr. Lancer winced at that as he knew very well that he was the biggest liability and Danny had been forced several times to save him thus resulting in Danny's peers being hurt.

He really should have stayed at home.

"But, never mind that...Dash help me break down the doors while Youngblood explains to the crew what we're doing and Star you can begin to pick locks...Mr. Lancer go stand to the side or something..." Tucker instructed as they reached the holding cells.

"FREAKSHOW! I'VE COME FOR YOUR HEAD! SHOW YOURSELF!" Danny roared as they reached the deck gathering the attention of _everyone_.

"Uh...Wouldn't a sneak attack, like, work better?" Paulina asked but Danny ignored her as he activated his scythe and rushed forward. Danny roared furiously as he sliced straight through a skeleton and just kept rushing forward. He didn't care who got in his way to Freakshow and Lydia...All he cared about was killing those two and he wasn't going to be denied that victory.

A skeleton cut him across the cheek, but he ignored it as he cut the pirate down vertically and then spun around to kill all the ones that tried to surround him. He was nearly impaled in the side only for Jazz's shield to cut the arm off the skeleton, but Danny didn't thank her as he sliced the stupid ghost in half. Another skeleton nearly sliced straight through him, but Danny used his scythe to stand on top of it perfectly balanced; the ghosts didn't even get a chance to regain their barrings as he grabbed the staff by his feet and spun around on his hands cutting them apart before letting it fly through a hoard in front of him.

The skeletons tried to take advantage of him being without a weapon, but Danny was far too ticked off to care about that as he punched one in the face followed up by a sweeping kick. He received a nasty slash on his side that began bleeding profusely causing him to stumble and endure a barrage of bullets in his back. With a aggravated growl he turned his back intangible and let the bullets fall out as his powers instantly began trying to heal him.

He'll be scarred of course, but that doesn't matter right now...What does is that skeleton that dares try to impale him with its pathetic sword, so without a second thought he shifts to the side and breaks its arm right off. The ghost cried in pain except Danny made no attention to it as he grabbed the sword and decapitated its owner before throwing at one of the sniper ghosts that shot him knocking him off the ship with a cry of pain. He couldn't enjoy his victory though as a zombie ghost had the _gall _to try and attack him with his own scythe.

No that would not do at all.

Danny grabbed the staff part mid slash and threw the zombie into the air with it. However, before Danny could slice him in half he found himself back flipping from an array of bullets until he saw Jazz's shield know the ghost off the ship. As soon as the zombie landed on the ground he charged at Danny, but that was a stupid move as Danny cut him in half. He seemed fine at first until Danny poked his forehead causing the zombie's upper body to slide off in a heap.

Still Danny was frustrated; despite all these attacks and hits he couldn't find where Freakshow and Lydia were hiding out.

His momentary search nearly cost him as a huge group of ghosts try to attack him at once, but they were blasted away before Danny could do anything. The eighteen year old hero spun around to see his father blow on his bazooka with a grin and a wink, but Danny turned away continuing to search for his targets while he could feel his power cackle under him with unsuppressed anger.

Jack wasn't mad or disappointed in Danny's reaction as he was feeling quite the same way...Sam was like his second daughter AND HOW DARE THESE _GHOSTS _THREATEN HER LIKE THAT! No, Jack would have none of that as he blasted away another large group that nearly attack his _real _daughter from behind! He, the great Jack Fenton, will never allow that to happen! Never again will he let these almost there adults get hurt like they had been! NO! He was done with that as he blew a ghost to smithereens that had been dumb enough to attack from the front.

Another tried to attack him before the bazooka could recharge another blast, but the large man would have none of that as he grabbed the ghost's shirt and slammed it head first into the ground. The attack unfortunately gave another ghost the chance to slice him across the face, but Jack repaid the favor with a massive headbutt that knocked the ghost far away. He was nearly stabbed in the back, but he spun the bazooka backwards and fired!

Another though managed to pierce his iron gut all the way through much to his horror and pain. "Daddy!" Jazz cried as she jumped down from the upperdeck and knee slammed the skeleton all the way through its body. "Daddy! Are you okay? What am I saying? Of course your not! Here let me pull that out..."

Jack would have cried out in pain if he had been able to and Jazz instantly regretted the action as the sword was obviously keeping him from bleeding so much. Jazz noticed out of the corner out of her another skeleton try to attack her as her dad fell to the ground in pain...Instinct reacted over her mind as she grabbed the foolish ghost by the neck, slammed it into the ground and stabbed the bloody sword straight through its skull.

With that out of the way, she instantly pulled out her first aid kit and began to sew his skin, but another one tried to take advantage of her distracted thoughts. This one didn't fair better as Jazz unconsciously caused her shield to fly out from next to her and cut in half. As she finished the quick stitches she noticed the ghost in front of her fire a bullet at her but she was quick with her shield to block it and even ricochet it at the ghost next to her. Unfortunately, there's only so much she can do she realized as her right arm was riddled with bullets that had been luckily in the way of her head.

"AAAAAH!" Jazz cried in pain...Despite what television tries to tell you, getting shot _hurts_! She couldn't allow herself to be distracted however as she threw her shield at the gun wielding ghost with a vengeance because another nearly attacked her from behind. Luckily, she learned her lesson at Dora's coup d'état and actually expanded her barrier to stop it in its tracks. She growled at the ghost as she kicked her father's bazooka into her hand, dropped the barrier (as she can shoot anything out of the expanded form) and fired.

Another tried to attack from behind, but it was cut down from behind as her shield returned to her. Another gunman tried to shoot her, but Paulina was having none of that as she cut the female ghost pirate's arm off. "Like I'm letting you do that!" Paulina snarled as she cut the pirate straight in half.

Paulina did a mid air back flip as she jumped over a ghost's sword and sliced him right through the middle. Suddenly, an ecto-bullet grazed past her shoulder and she winced painfully but didn't let her bog down.

Up on the deck a bunch of snipers were trying to shoot the girl as she used her cheerleader prowess to do back flips, hand springs and rolls to get out of the way until she was hidden behind the mast. She smirked when she saw the line and cut it to go up to it luckily the bullets missing. Once on top she narrowed her eyes and saw right where the snipers were as she tugged the rope a couple times.

"I've always wanted to do this!" Paulina exclaimed as she put her sword in her mouth by the handle and swung down. "Yahoo!"

The snipers weren't prepared for such a stupid action and thus one was cut in half as she landed on him; the two other snipers tried to shoot her at point blank only for her to fall to the ground at the last second and shoot each other. To add insult to injury she cut them in half ensuring her victory before jumping back into the fray.

Jazz used her shield to ricochet a bullet at another skeleton as she threw it at the offender cutting him down. She was nearly stabbed in the back, but her small barrier was enough to deflect the blow and counter with her returned shield. She rolled to the side as another tried to cut her with an axe, but he was stupidly easy to defeat seeing as how all she had to do was remove his arms and legs.

Danny screamed in fury as he spotted the two responsible for all this by the bow of the ship and he wasn't going to let them escape. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Danny roared as he ran forward with a vengeance and cut down everything that was in his way whether it be a ghost or a part of the ship.

"Hah ha, the true _freak_ has come!" Freakshow laughed and Lydia smirked as she let her swarm of tattoos fly at him.

Danny was having none of this as he moved with unbelievable speed and cut them down like they were minor nuisances rather than a pretty dangerous attack. "You'll have to do better than that Lydia if you want to beat me!"

"Like that?" Freakshow said pointing behind Danny and he whirled around to see an ecto-laser fired at him; Danny closed his eyes and turned intangible...Except he didn't feel anything pass through him...

Danny opened his eyes and he was horrified at the sight before him; his father in an act of courage stood between him and the laser...Jack was critically injured as most of his heart was destroyed in that one little attack.

That attack that he didn't need to bother, but did believing Danny couldn't dodge it in time or save himself..."DAD!" Danny screamed horrified as the large father fell backwards. "Dad! Dad! Dad!"

"DADDY!" Jazz screeched in horror as she completely forgot about the battle and had a sword stabbed right into her shoulder; she completely ignored the pain not feeling it in the slightest as her entire had gone numb from shock.

"Hey guys! The Calvary has...come...oh no..." Tucker trailed off at the sight of Jack and Sam's eyes swelled with disbelieving tears.

"JJJAAACCCCKKKKK!" Maddie screeched at the sight of her beloved husband. With no second thought or feeling she rushed to her man's side not comprehending that this could happen.

"Dad! Dad! Dad! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! DDDAAAADDD!" Danny screeched as he cried over his father, but he jumped in shock when he felt a hand on his face.

Danny looked down to see his father smiling at him...Not a bitter or a sad smile, but one of a proud father. "Dad..." Danny whispered and Jack's grin widened as if it to say that he was so glad Danny would call him that; as if to say it wasn't the ghost portal that was his life work but his children.

And, with his strong arms slowly fading away he pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to his son along with a note...The note itself brought even harder tears to his eyes.

"Daddy!" Jazz cried as she bled slightly in the shoulder and Jack turned to his daughter...His Jazzy-pants. His brilliant, lovely daughter who deserved more in this world than anything that could possibly be offered. He patted her head and she cried over his form like the five year old girl who came running to him to protect her from lightning storms and monsters under her bed.

The last he looked at was his beautiful, strong wife who had all but collapsed into herself at the sight of her husband; he had always felt so _honored_ that she chose to spend her life with him. Never in his life has he regretted taking the chance and asking her out...She truly was the most important person in his life.

It hurt to see her so hurt, but there wasn't much he could do. He was fading away from this world, away from the pain, so he grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. "Ja—" Maddie was cut off as her husband kissed her.

His kisses were always so special...Each one conveyed an emotion so powerful it left her breathless and stunned. They always said "I love you today as I'll love you tomorrow." His kisses always promised a forever and ever.

This kiss conveyed his love so much it _hurt_, but most painful it told her "goodbye my love, I shall miss you."

Jack was gone before she removed her lips from the last kiss she'll ever receive...

"Hah ha, looks like one of you were taken down after all! Too bad it was the big stupid oaf though..." Freakshow laughed and Danny froze.

"What did you say?"

"I didn't stutter! I'm glad I managed to kill one of you! I've been dying to do that for years!" Freakshow said laughing gleefully at Jack's still form.

"I had been so cowardly," Danny said through grit teeth as he felt his fury begin to rise once more. "Dad didn't need to die...I am strong enough to handle this. I let my fears of 'what ifs' cloud my judgment and now my _father_ paid the price for this! Well no more! I'm done hiding like a coward! AND, I WON'T LET YOU SPEAK BADLY OF MY FATHER AGAIN FREAKSHOW!"

"Danny, what are you saying?" Maddie asked her son with tears in her eyes as she saw her son put something in his pocket and push a button his scythe to make the staff part grow short.

"What I'm saying is..." Danny grit out as a pair of light blue rings appeared around his waist. "I'm going ghost!"

The rings covered his body as he slowly transformed. His bottom half became covered in black pants with white boots while his top was covered in a black tank-top with a while flak jacket that had the "DP" symbol on the back of it in pure black. His hands were covered with short white gloves much like how his hair turned white while his eyes were green.

His scythe's blade extended from both side as the staff turned black and a chain of ecto-energy wrapped from the bottom to his arms as his body was instantly glowing.

Danny Fenton had finally transformed into Danny Phantom and HE WAS _PISSED_!

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><p><strong>AN: So, there you have it...My first death for the good guys, but don't expect it to be the _only _death. On the other hand, don't expect any other deaths to occur either...It can go either way.**

**One the bright side I finally revealed who "she" is, but her full story won't be revealed for a few chapters. This reveal was a last minute decision so you can see exactly _why _everyone is afraid of her waking up.**

**The next chapter I plan on showing off why Danny is in charge however and one of Tucker's abilities that was briefly mentioned two chapters ago...This show why Jazz and Valerie vocally admit that the original Team Phantom is the strongest amongst them.**

**I should also warn you that Danny and Sam's reveal of their powers will soon cause things to kick it up a notch, but also lose quite a bit of fodder (the fodder were of course mostly to help train the humans to fight better so I can have them actually fighting later rather than shooting mook A, B and C). In other words, expect my pathetic fight scenes to finally start to reach epic proportions.**


	10. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

**Sorry that this chapter isn't an update, but I'm probably not going to update for about a week...Or rather I won't be putting up new chapters.**

**Rather, I am re-editing the first arc now that I've finished it because now that I got the basic thought down I can get the better character development done as well as lengthen my chapters.**

**What I mean is that most of my chapters I try to get at least ten pages (Calibri 11 point font when writing) and some of my chapters fall short of that. My first chapter for instance is **_**only three pages long**_**.**

**So, with that mind I plan to lengthen parts, increase character interaction and improve what I've written (everything's always better in hindsight after all). I plan to write out certain parts I only really glossed over to hurry the plot along.**

**When I initially wrote it I also didn't have everything completely figured out as it was now so I can improve those things to avoid plot holes.**

**The fight at Technus' Lab needs A LOT of rewriting as well, so as I said I won't be adding a new chapter for maybe a week but my old ones should be worth re-reading soon.**

**COMPLETED EDITS:**

**Chapter One**

**Chapter Two  
><strong>


	11. Arc II: Primal Fury

**A/N: Okay, sorry for the wait but here is the next chapter. Now here are some things you should know:**

**1) Make sure to read my story "Ghostly Origins" which will have the origins to all the ghosts in this story and I may reference it at one point (Plus I like my origin stories...).**

**2) I have only edited the first two chapters and some of the main fight from the last chapter, but you should make sure to read them.**

**3) I promise the action is going to start to slow down quite a bit...This bit of action was honestly neccessary for Jack's death as well as finally revealing the characters superpowers to the regular characters (as I said in the first chapter...This is more than a reveal story and doing so early was my way of showing that as well as giving a reason to amp action up while minimizing the fodder). More drama is on the way...Though not a lot of melodrama as I can't stand that kind of drama.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN DANNY PHANTOM!**

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><p><strong>Primal Fury<strong>

Maddie could only stare at her son in shock and disbelief...He was a ghost? He was the_ ghost boy_? The one she and Jack...oh her wonderful, wonderful Jack...had been hunting for four years? How had she not seen it? How hadn't Jack?

_"Ha ha! I _am _your boy!" A dark, adult voice spoke through what felt like a memory long forgotten even though it never existed in the first place._

_"What?" Memory Maddie exclaimed confused and shocked._

_"What kind of parents are you anyway? The world's leading ghost experts and you can't even figure out your own son was half ghost!" The dark voice that Maddie assumed to be some sort of adult Danny or something taunted._

_"For the record I blame you," Memory Jack told her._

_"Hello...Danny Fenton, Danny _Phantom_," Adult Danny said mockingly. "Ever notice the similarity? Jazz did."_

'_What was that?_' Maddie thought confused as she stared at her son. It was a memory she could tell that much, but she never witnessed or heard anything like that! Whatever it was though it made her hate herself a little...That adult evil sounding Danny was right, how had she not noticed the similarities?

Not just the name either...They looked almost alike except for some inverted colors.

'_Is he evil though?_' Maddie thought and even felt disgusted with herself for thinking that about her wonderful, sweet boy. Except that voice sounded evil and he was _supposed _to be her son! Was this whole field trip a trap by Danny and that witch Sam? Neither sounded (and in Sam's case _acted_) like they were good, but...

_"Don't worry, I won't turn into that. _Ever. _I promise," Danny sounded like he did when he was fourteen._

'_So, is he good or evil?_' Maddie questioned but no one answered her questions as she stared at her son.

Paulina glared at the boy once the shock had subsided...How Danny Fenton must have laughed at her! Her whole crush must have like one big joke for him and his freakish friends. S-Manson had always laughed at her when she brought up her crush and how she knew him better than anyone else.

'_I knew NOTHING!_' Paulina scolded herself and she couldn't help but think how utterly pathetic she was to crush on him. She felt even dumber for not guessing Danny Phantom had a secret identity...How could she, a closet comic book geek, not guess her superhero crush had one?

It's no wonder that he used to drop hints for her to go for Danny Fenton...She just thought he was shy, but he was trying to set her up! It was like he thought of her as a joke...Except the other night when he talked to her.

Looking back at that conversation, it was like he was trying to let her down easy. She didn't understand then of course, but now...Did that mean he wasn't laughing at her? No, it was more like he pitied her, wasn't it?

He knew she didn't stand a chance, and so the boy obviously tried to persuade her to move on...

_"Will you still try if he shows up now?"_

_"I don't really know," Paulina admitted. "One part wants me to, but another..."_

_"Wants to go for Dash?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Well, if the time ever comes I hope you choose whatever makes you happiest."_

'_I don't know if it's what will make me happy, but...I need to move on,_' Paulina decided wiping the tears she didn't even realize she was crying. She could feel her heart break knowing she really couldn't do anything else.

And, yet a small part of her felt lighter now that she didn't feel compelled to make herself wait for Phantom just in case she did catch his eye...And, has Dash always been that handsome? When did he grow so much taller than her? How had she never noticed how powerful he looked?

Paulina shook her head...A man had just died (a very kind man) and here she was thinking about how handsome the former quarterback was? How could she even think about those things right now?

Was she truly that terrible?

Star looked at Danny Fe—no, Danny _Phantom_ with awe; she knew there was something different about him as soon as they reached that freaky lab place but him being a superhero was not her biggest guess. In a way, she also felt a bit of anger...Why couldn't he have done this before Kwan lost his leg? Or, Paulina was burned? Or even before Dash lost his arm?

However, she couldn't really resent him...He was obviously afraid people wouldn't accept him. If there was anything she realized being here was that for all the bravado and confidence Danny had shown he was obviously still human enough to fear rejection. The way everyone rejected him as just Danny Fenton couldn't have helped.

She knows how the rest of the school (hell how her friends) felt about the boy! He was considered the freaky boy with weirdo parents and that's without adding superpowers into the mix! She might not be the smartest bulb in the box, but she knew how easy something cool like superpowers could just turn into freakishness and fear in people's eyes...

All in all, she wanted nothing more than to reassure the boy (man) that he wasn't a freak for being different, but right now was obviously not the time.

Dash's breath stuck in his throat as he stared at the former wimpy Fenton...The greatest superhero he had ever seen was one of his regular punching bags! How was he still alive? If it was him he would have got him back in _spades _for everything he put him through.

Maybe that's why Fenton was the one with superpowers and he wasn't...Obviously he wasn't superhero worthy with those thoughts. His respect for Fenton had been slowly growing as the trip went on and this just made it sky rocket! No wonder his friends listened to him...His friends! If Fenton was Danny Phantom than could they be...?

Dash stared at the ones he always considered geeks in small disbelief; the superheroes he had hero worshiped had been right under his nose everyday and _he beat them up_! Its times like this he's glad they're such goody two shoes because he wouldn't stand a chance.

Dash looked down at the still form of Mr. Fenton and held back tears...He couldn't believe this happened. How utterly foolish was he to think that this trip was going to be a walk in the park, and now here was undeniable proof that this trip had nothing else but ruined everyone's life.

He really hated this place and that stupid albino ghost...He really hoped Fe—Phantom took care of him quickly.

Kwan sucked in a deep breath as he stared at Phantom wide eyed and fearfully. No, he didn't think Phantom was evil but…He had beaten up the boy everyday for _years_! What if he decided to get payback now that he didn't have to hide his identity? The things he's seen Phantom do…How much would it hurt a human?

'_A lot probably_,' Kwan thought fearfully as he stared at the pissed off form of a superhero. '_Plus if Fenton is a superhero than all of his friends are and all of his friends are…Why am I still alive?_'

The former football player also couldn't help but wonder where Fenton got those powers…He obviously wasn't born with them if his mother was so shocked!

'_Can I get them too?_' Kwan mused to himself imagining just what he could do with those powers…

Mr. Lars Lancer looked absolutely disgusted at what Daniel had turned into…If he had learned anything this past week it was that ghosts were nothing but putrid creatures! He was a disgusting beast just like the rest of his kind and this whole thing was obviously a trap created by Daniel to get them all killed for the trouble he caused!

And, why the hell wasn't Mrs. Fenton shooting him down? Look at what he did! He killed her husband! Whatever Daniel was before this doesn't matter! He shouldn't be considered a son anymore the abomination! What was he anyway? A ghost pretending to be a human or a freaky boy with freaky little powers?

Whatever it was, it's not natural!

Mr. Lancer raised his arm to shoot the boy before he could cause anymore damage but Samantha slapped the wrist ray away from him. Mr. Lancer sneered to himself staring at the girl…She was obviously sympathetic to the creature that was Danny Phantom.

He always knew she didn't have much sense.

Sam glared at her teacher for what he obviously tried to do! How dare he try to attack Danny? Can't he see how hurt her lover is? The witch couldn't stop the tears as they spilled; to see Danny so hurt, to see Jazz's broken form loom over father's dead body, to see Maddie's confused and hurt expression…But, most importantly to see the man who had become like a father to her dead…She couldn't handle it.

"_Morning Mr. Fenton," An eighteen year old Sam yawned heading into the kitchen for a bowl of cereal and Jack smiled brightly at her._

"_Mornin' Sam! You're just in time! I've got this new invention…" Jack began making Sam cringe a little._

"_Uh…Suddenly I'm not so hungry anymore," Sam muttered putting the cereal back. "I think I'll go take a shower first…"_

"_Oh…" Jack said sounding disappointed but Sam just sighed glad to have gotten away. "Oh, and Sam?"_

"_Yeah, Mr. Fenton?"_

"_When are you going to start calling me dad?" Jack asked bluntly and Sam nearly fell face first._

"_W-What?" Sam squeaked out blushing red in the face._

"_What's the big deal? You and Danny-boy are obviously going for the long hull, so you might as well get used it to you know!" Jack pressured causing Sam's blush to intensify. "Come one, how about you start now?"_

"_Uh…I better get the shower before Danny wakes up!" Sam squealed out running away from the question; she and Danny had been avoiding the topic of marriage for a while now and she didn't want to get started on it with Mr. Fenton!_

'_I never did get around to calling you that did I?_' Sam mused to herself staring at the still form of the loveable goof. "I'm sorry…Dad…"

How the hell could this happen? No, it didn't make any sense! They've always fought and no one ever died! Mr. Fenton should be too strong to die just like that! He didn't understand! How could this happen? How? HOW? _HOW_?

Tucker had always had a stupidly optimistic belief that despite everything that happened they would all survive. It was the main reason he didn't fight Danny too much on the transformation but now…Now Danny was transformed into Danny Phantom his anger rolling off him in waves and he was absolutely powerless to help!

Why couldn't it be easy?

'_This isn't happening,_' Jazz decided staring at her father wide eyed. '_No, I'm still asleep and I'm going to wake up any moment to tell my parents how unethical it is to go on a field trip to the Ghost Zone. YES! That's _exactly _what I'll do!'_

The poor girl just rocked back and forth staring at her father not truly comprehending the reality of the situation…Or, more appropriately she wasn't _willing _to deal with the reality of what just happened.

Valerie stared at Jack wide eyed and unprepared for the state he was in…Despite everything Jack had always seemed invincible to her. Like his child-like wonder protected him from the harsher aspects of ghost hunting.

That was stupid seeing as children die every day.

She didn't know what to do! She wanted to absolutely _destroy _Freakshow for this, but she knew very well that if she dared to interfere Danny would never forgive her. His anger far exceeded hers and the way he looked right now…Well it was quite obvious he was going to show why he's considered the strongest amongst their group of heroes.

She just hoped he didn't go too far and use _those _techniques…

Danny looked around him as Freakshow's mutinous crew prepared to either run or attack…He didn't give a damn which it was because none of these bastards were going anywhere! Danny spun his scythe with the chain picking up speed until you couldn't even see the blades any longer. "I'M GOING TO KILL ALL OF YOU!"

No one really saw it as the scythe broke off the chain flying through a bunch of the skeletons! It didn't cut them down but completely destroyed their ectoplasm! The pirate ghosts screamed in terror and tried to run, but Danny wasn't having any of that as he charged a powerful ghost ray and annihilated at least twenty in one fell swoop.

The ghosts cried out screaming in terror as Danny flew at them with extreme speed throwing blasts of energy in every way. Suddenly he turned invisible right in mid air; the ghosts were terrified when suddenly out of nowhere a ghost was blown to smithereens but there was nothing in the area.

They desperately tried to fly away only for Danny to reappear in the middle of a large group spinning around extremely fast with his ecto-energy charging until he released it into a giant explosive blast destroying everything in its path.

Danny didn't care about that though as he used his chain to grab his scythe in midair and swung in a circle cutting everything in its path. As he cut down the last zombie pirate ghost he released the chain to send the scythe flying into another group of skeletons.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a skeleton try to sneak off which pissed him off even more so he used his chain to straighten and stab right into the ghost. That was not the end however as the last link begun to glow bright green before it exploded sending the ghost's ectoplasm all over the ship. "Who's next?" Danny asked with a low growl narrowing his eyes dangerously at the mutinous crew.

One ghost tried to attack him from behind believing that running away won't work, but Danny simply ducked as his scythe returned and jammed itself in the ghost's skull. Said ghost didn't have time to get his bearings as Danny reconnected the chain and pulled it out of the ghost.

The ghost was apparently a bit stronger since he wasn't destroyed from the weapon. "It'll take more than tha—mmph"

The ghost was cut off when Danny grabbed his face not caring about the bragging or witty banter as he released his ice power into the ghost's body. The last thing the creature saw was Danny's smirking face as his body became a frozen popsicle.

Danny removed his hand to see the completely frozen over ghost, scoffed at the thing's stupidity and punched it with enough force to shatter the ghost. He didn't even watch as it crumbled into broken shards as he tossed the scythe once more to cut down more fleeing ghosts.

"I got it!" A stealthy ghost cheered as it grabbed the scythe by the staff and smirked at Danny only to find an ecto-chain around his neck and his head flying off. If that wasn't enough, Danny pulled the body to him and blasted it with a point blank ghost ray destroying everything but his weapon.

Snipers began to fire tons of shots at him only to go through him when he turned intangible; another ghost tried to attack from above jumping down with his sword pointed at him…Which was really, _really _stupid since he was still intangible.

"You want to take me on? Then I'll show you how POWERFUL I REALLY AM!" Danny roared with his ghostly wail up heaving several parts of the ship as well as causing several ghosts to just fizzle out of existence. That wasn't the only thing that happened though…Four rings appeared around Danny's body; one was around his legs, one on each arm and one around his torso.

"What?" Sam, Tucker and Valerie screamed in horror at the sight of the rings. "YOU CAN'T USE THEM, DANNY!"

Jazz finally looked up at that and gasped horrified at the sight of those rings. She knew what that meant and she threw up a telekinetic shield. It wasn't like the ones she used before…While see through it had a distinct pink glow around it that everyone caught everyone off guard as her hair flowed freely changing completely magenta along with her eyes.

"Jazz?" Maddie gasped out her eyes bulging at the sight of her daughter's power. She had been hoping that only Danny and Sam had powers because now she had no idea if any of these children could be trusted!

"Stay in the shield," Jazz grunted focusing her power. "Danny's about to get dangerous."

"You mean he wasn't already?" Dash asked watching the fight in awe and fear.

"Not even close," Tucker told him afraid of what was to come, and a part of him hoped that Danny would come to his senses. Which is why he was horrified to see the ring that had "Signa Vitae" written around his left arm expand and fall to the ground to disappear in a puff of smoke.

For a long agonizing second nothing happened…Everyone just watched where the ring was puzzled while Team Phantom transformed before their classmates very eyes. They look prepared for to fight to the death…

When suddenly Danny's white aura exploded to life like a roaring flame incinerating everything and everyone caught into it; Paulina would never forget the wails of death as the flames touched the ghosts around him.

All too soon did the flames down to show Danny in a white fiery aura. "You bastard!" A sniper yelled in fury and fear blasting every bullet he could at the ghost boy. Danny just turned to look at him with a blank expression as the bullets disintegrated the second they touched the beastly fire.

Danny paid no heed to the cries of outrage and fear as he simply walked forward burning the ground beneath him with every step. "This is as far as you go," Danny said plainly to a ghost about to fly off as he grabbed its ankle and the aura grew to surround the ghost as it screamed in pain as its body just burned away…"THIS IS AS FAR AS ANY OF YOU GO!"

It was like a switch was turned back on as Danny suddenly flew through a bunch of ghosts burning them alive! Even intangibility wasn't stopping the flames as they were destroyed and Maddie was reminded of what the witch did!

"What…What is this…?" Kwan choked out wide eyed as he began to shake.

"Aura Burning," Foresight said carefully. "One of Danny's five sealed powers…With a single touch he can roast low level ghosts and humans into pure nothingness. All it takes is a single touch and it destroys everything in its path."

"Why doesn't he use that more often then?" Star asked getting over the fact that the _geeks_ were superheroes all along.

"Danny doesn't like to kill for one," Sam or rather Spell Caster explained. "Also, that aura is completely uncontrollable…If it's not sealed anyone near him (even if he's in human form) will _die_. Friend or Foe…It doesn't matter! And, the worst part is that it takes _years _off his life to use it!"

"What a monster," Mr. Lancer mumbled quietly to himself as he watched Danny's aura melt a ghost's sword before the aura expanded to burn the ghost to death.

"Uh oh," Nano-Tech said. "Some are trying to run…Danny won't like that."

The rings around his legs suddenly expanded along with the words "Weight Sigillo" before it clattered to the ground to disappear in smoke. "You're not getting away," Danny said suddenly standing in front of the ghosts trying to make a break for on the other side of the ship.

The ghosts didn't even get a chance to scream at the boy's sudden appearance as one was cut down with the scythe, one blasted by a ghost ray and the last burned to after death with his aura. "So, this is where you two went hiding," Danny noted behind Freakshow and Lydia.

The two ghosts whirled around in shock…They were on the other side of the ship! How did he get there so fast? "I could kill you now," Danny noted his aura expanding. "It would be easy, but first I'd prefer for you to see all of your stupid minions die."

Freakshow was about to retort when a ghost near the mast screamed in pain as Danny burned him…It took a second for Freakshow to realize that Danny had disappeared!

"Blank Step," Mind Bridge explained as Danny seemed to just appear to kill a few ghosts and then disappear all before they could realize what happened. "Danny moves so fast that a normal mind can't even comprehend he's there."

"Wait! When you say moved you mean _teleport_ don't you?" Paulina asked a bit of her comic book geekiness coming out of her to surprise everyone.

"No, she means move as in _run really fast_," Spell Caster told her completely serious. "Or in Danny's case he can run and _fly _really fast."

"And, he doesn't use this often either because…?" Maddie asked getting the feeling these great powers her so—_Phantom _(if Phantom was evil than she could not…should not think of him as a son) used.

"Have you ever heard stories about molecules moving so fast they can go through solid objects?" Nano-Tech asked the Fenton matron and she nodded. "Well, used too long and that's all Danny will be able to do…Used for so long and it will be like he's permanently intangible to everything!"

Spell Caster shuddered at the thought of never being able to touch her beloved again and he never able to touch her again. It was really a nightmare come true…

Danny was suddenly in front of them outside Mind Bridge's shield and the ring reading "Compages Sogillio" fell off just like the other two. Danny grew to four times his normal size as he blocked the laser that killed his father that had shot at the rest of the group.

He would _never _allow that to happen again!

Danny screamed as stomped on the laser and grabbed the ghost who fired it as he used his aura to burn him while using his ice power to freeze over at the same time creating pain beyond anything the mind could comprehend…The ghost's mind was completely destroyed long before it actually died.

Danny appeared in a ghost's mouth having shrunk down to a miniscule size before jumping down its throat and expanding while inside. The ghost's allies could only watch in horror as the ghost's body exploded but their horror didn't last long as they found a scythe running them through.

"Let me guess…Size Manipulation?" Maddie asked staring at the ghost boy in horror…She had never seen someone kill so horribly.

She was really beginning to think he was evil.

"Yes," Foresight told her not to shock that someone like Maddie figured it out. "He can change his body's full size at will, but if left unsealed it will cause him to grow and shrink periodically and as a human it will not change the size of bone structure…"

Star nearly threw up as an image of a shrinking Danny went into her mind with his bones staying the exact same…The imaginary sound of flesh tearing was almost too much for her (had she not seen a lot these last few days and especially in this fight she _would _have lost it…).

Danny paused in his attack to look around and smirked. "Oh look Freakshow…It's Just us now, isn't it?" Danny asked the albino circus master.

Freakshow could only look at the complete massacre before him…He had known the boy was powerful, but this was completely _ridiculous._

"Now prepare to die," two Danny's said from behind them as they charged a ghost ray at them, but Lydia reacted quick enough to turn her and Freakshow intangible and let the blasts pass through them. Danny's face grew angry at their escape as Aragon's pendant appeared around his right wrist began to glow as the last ring "Sigillo Manipulation" around his right arm fell away…

The humans could only watch as Danny's body seem to turn black, his eyes turning a solid red and his white hair grew long. He looked like a human sized black dragon as the black turned scaly, a long tail grew from behind him, his hair a fiery mane, and his hands and feet turning into black claws.

Danny growled as he appeared in front of Freakshow his hand cutting the entire left side of head off with his claws alone…That wasn't enough pain for the bastard who killed his father though! Nowhere near enough!

He will suffer!

Dragon Danny roared as the fire aura burned through the albino man's body slowly while he _ripped his freaking arms off_! He wouldn't stop there though as he turned small and using his miniature claws ripped a hole in his stomach and flew in. He wasted no time re-growing large enough to explode the entire lower part of his body off.

By the time Freakshow burned to an ectoplasmic crisp his soul had long since abandoned his ghostly form to escape to a much nicer place…_Hell_.

"Dragon Transformation," Spell Caster said softly watching Danny. "When he defeated Aragon he took some of the power into himself and with the amulet it lets him control his form, but with the amulet broken like it is it can only control the form before so long before the dragon's instincts kick in…"

"Which means…?" Kwan asked afraid of the answer.

"Imagine all that power without Danny's brain to tell the difference between friend and foe," Nano-Tech said seriously. "It's A LOT scarier than him turning evil."

"Wait! Are you saying he isn't already evil?" Mr. Lancer asked disbelievingly and Maddie secretly listened carefully, but both scowled when the heroes snorted.

"If Danny was evil trust me when I say we'd already be dead," Mind Bridge told them seriously. "I've seen what an evil Danny can do and trust me he doesn't need to play games nor does he want to. Danny has always been a straightforward kind of guy after all."

Mr. Lancer continued to scowl at them not really believing them, but not daring to voice his thoughts to these _freaks_.

Maddie on the other hand expelled a soft sigh of relief at that.

Dragon Danny roared as he grabbed Lydia (his aura completely vaporizing all of her tattoos), threw her in the air and suddenly appeared next to her the size of the ship as his tail smashed her straight through a floating landmass that Danny was already waiting on the other side for.

Lydia tried to attack him with an ecto-blast as her body burnt to nothing but it was completely ineffective against Danny's monstrous power. The last thing the tattooed ghost saw was the dragonic smirk of Danny Phantom as she burned into nothingness…

"Now that that's over…" Nano-Tech said softly as his feelings of anguish resurfaced without the fight to distract him any longer. "We just need Spell here to reseal his powers and we're good to go!"

"I…I can't see them completely," Spell Caster said softly causing everyone to stare at her wide eyed.

"What? Why not?" Jazz said afraid for her brother's life. She already lost her father! She wasn't going to lose her brother too!

"One, all the sealing tools were destroyed with the bus," Spell Caster explained. "And, Hecate woke up…Until I'm sure she's more asleep I can't use too much power or she'll wake back up…"

Foresight frowned at that. "Can you, you know, half seal him or something?"

"Yes but he won't be able to transform much, or the seals will break again. If they break again so soon after being sealed will make it nearly impossible for me to do it again without the tools."

"Ah…Don't come any closer dude," Nano-Tech said as Dragon Danny landed in front of them. "That aura can knock down Mind Bridge's barrier if you stay there too long, all right?"

Dragon Danny didn't respond, but instead gave a sinister toothy grin that sent a chill down everyone's back. When suddenly Dragon Danny leapt at the shield with a gluttonous roar of rage.

"SHIT! I knew he lasted too long!" Foresight cursed as the beast slammed into the shield shattering it before them. Before the fire could attack them however a powerful blast sent it flying away and everyone turned to see Nano-Tech panting his arms smoking from the power.

"Damn it! I needed to use sixty percent of my power on that!" Nano-Tech said tiredly before turning to the witch of the group. "You need to seal that Aura Burning first or I won't be able to touch him!"

"All right…You keep him busy while I work on it!" Nano-Tech nodded and used his rocket boots to shoot at Dragon Danny from above. The dragon ghost boy roared in fury at the miniscule bug that dared to challenge HIM!

The dragon appeared in front of Nano-Tech and shot a breath of fire from point blank, but Nano-Tech predicted this and had a force field up to stop it before he could get too far. "Any time now Spell Caster!" He grunted pushing as much power he had into the shield as possible.

"_Vitae_!" Spell Caster cried and suddenly the word appeared around Dragon's Danny left arm…The aura quickly reseeded back to a normal level much to Nano-Tech's relief.

Dragon Danny roared as it felt a forth of his power disappear, but when it turned to find the source it suddenly found a horrible pain in its stomach as Nano-Tech used his rocket boots to punch with tremendous force.

Nano-Tech didn't get to enjoy his swift victory as he was slammed downward by a powerful tail only to be shot back in the air by the tail again. He didn't get any chance to defend himself as he was bounced around the air by the monster using blank step to keep an edge.

"You need to stop him from moving Nano or I won't be able to seal his speed!" Spell Caster yelled out aggravated as her spells kept missing her boyfriend.

"Easier said than…guh…done!" Nano-Tech roared back painfully slamming into a flying boulder, but before he could bust out the dragon boy punched him with a mountain size scaly fist that sent him flying only to be crushed between two claws. "AAAAAHHH!"

Foresight cried out at the sight of her boyfriend and fired a cannon ball right into the giant dragon's eye. The dragon roared in pain releasing Nano-Tech who blasted away as fast as he possibly could. "Darn it! I didn't want to use these, but I have no choice!" Nano-Tech muttered clutching his arm painfully. "Encrypted file Nano Shift XL activate…Password: 'TuChacK8891'…Level of release: Full."

Nano-Tech's body glowed bright blue for a second before returning to normal and everyone watched as the dragon back to normal size appeared behind him swiping at him…

Only to find that Nano-Tech's body split in half at the last second and returned to normal as he headbutted his best friend. The dragon backed up, but wasn't too hurt by the attack only to find his arm being torn into by a robotic lion.

The dragon roared as it used its free arm to forcibly remove the lion, but as it held the lion it suddenly fell apart into millions of little insects encasing the dragon's body leaving only a small part of the beast's legs uncovered. "Hurry Spell Caster! I can't hold it much longer!" Millions of voices said as one.

"I'm on it!" Spell Caster cried out her eyes glowing white. "_Weight_!"

The words appeared on its legs as the dragon roared combined with a ghostly wail blasting Nano-Tech's body clear off him. The dragon tried to appear behind the boy as he reconstructed only to find much to its irritation that it couldn't move that fast.

"Why don't you just seal the dragon power and be done with it?" Maddie snarled at the witch growing annoyed at seeing Nano-Tech pummeled into the ground.

"I can't!" Spell Caster snapped. "It's too powerful for me to seal right now! It has to use up energy and sealing the other powers weakens it into my range, okay?"

"FIRE!" Foresight called commanding Youngblood's crew as they came out from the lower decks that they had been hiding in; the crew released a volley of ecto-cannonballs to knock him back. The monster roared as it soared straight at them only to be shot in the face by a barrage of ecto-bullets.

With his scales it did nothing but annoyed him, but that's what Foresight was aiming for as the dragon shot at her. Standing in the crow's nest, she opened every weapon stockade in her suit, narrowed her eyes, and once her target was in front of her she released everything she had at once.

It roared angrily breathing fire to counter it, but it was knocked back as a scythe pierced its side. The beast was blasted back as it saw the red headed girl standing there with her eyes glowing magenta while the scythe continued its assault on him. Unfortunately, the dragon finally caught the scythe and smashed it angrily as Foresight ran out of power and bullets.

"_Compages_!" Spell Caster cried and it felt the partial ring on his chest ruining its power to grow. Now with just his normal ghostly powers and dragon abilities it began to feel weak…But, it still had too much power for the witch to seal.

Nano-Tech meanwhile re-encrypted his shift powers before the virus could take effect, and was glad to see three of the four seals in place. He blasted towards his best friend charging straight through him as the dragon turned intangible at the last second much to Nano-Tech's horror. "No! You aren't getting away that easily!" Nano-Tech declared."Encrypted File Hyper Electromagnetic Pulse Attack…Password: OverL0aD9h0…Level of release: half!"

Nano-Tech glowed red for a second before returning to normal…His eyes shining he blasted off standing right in front of the dragon. The beast having learned its lesson did not stop being intangible, but that didn't bother Nano-Tech as a powerful shockwave blew everything away to the point that the very part of the Ghost Zone they were in became completely black…The dragon on the other hand was forced to turn tangible much to its shock.

The beast did not have time to recover as suddenly the robot man headbutted him, followed up by kneeing him in the stomach and then using his fists to slam the monster into a floating boulder. '_An electromagnetic wave powerful enough to affect the human nervous system and ectoplasm sure comes in handy against ghosts who like to stay intangible…Ha! And, my science teacher said it couldn't be done…_' Nano-Tech thought as it charged at the dragon.

Only for him to find a claw shoved straight through his stomach, and a tail smashing him away; Nano-Tech slid to a stop and snarled at him. "You're not getting rid of me that easily dude!"

The robot teen rushed forward transforming his right arm into a sword that the dragon blocked with its arm. Nano-Tech did not let up as he slashed as hard as he could, but it was completely ineffective. The dragon had enough of the aggravating tin man and caught the sword, picked up the boy and slammed him into the ground.

Nano-Tech was not going to let that stop him as he released a Hyper EMP wave causing the dragon to flinch backwards and give Nano-Tech enough time to jump up. The beast charged at him, but the robot teen ducked under the extended claw, grabbed its mid section and performed a surplex.

The dragon roared enraged at the move as it remained unhurt, but the robot boy grabbed its chest and released another Hyper EMP wave causing its body to freeze up. It would not have mattered for in a few seconds it would be fine…Except Spell Caster came flying in with black angel wings in her back her eyes glowing and she yelled, "_Manipulation_" just as she grabbed its right arm.

The monster roared trying to fight as its power reseeded back into the ghost boy. "RAAAAAHHHHH!" It roared before Danny Phantom returned to his regular form at last. The boy did not give his thanks as he transformed back into Danny Fenton and passed out.

"Ah ha! You did it!" Nano-Tech said weakly as he re-encrypted his Hyper Electromagnetic Pulse Attack before passing out.

Spell Caster smiled weakly as she transformed back into Sam Manson and allowed her tears to spill in place of her boyfriend's for his loss.

Everything was going to change.

* * *

><p><strong>AN2: A lot of fighting this chapter, but the main purpose was showing off Danny and Tucker to show what I meant with how dangerous they truly are compared to Valerie and Jazz (I showed off Sam last chapter after all).**

**I also wanted to make sure you understand just how much more powerful Danny is compared to everyone else as well...Danny is the leader for a reason. That's why I showed off how easily Danny was winning _without _his sealed powers and how much things get amped up. One thing though...What you saw was not Danny at his best. There is one more sealed ability and Danny's judgement and skill were blocked by anger. When I _do _reveal Danny at his best it will make this entire chapter seem like weaksauce so be prepared...**


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